Alchemy and Wizardry
by sakurademonalchemist
Summary: Edward and Alphonse get letters before they attempt Human Transmutation. They decide to take a chance and learn magic before they bring their mother back. How will Hogwarts survive when Harry is adopted into the Elric family?
1. The letter

**Just to be clear, Edward and Alphonse haven't tried Human Transmutation when they get their letters. It will happen before their second year.**

* * *

><p>Ed was trying to find a book he hadn't read yet in their father's study when he heard the tapping. Alphonse was with Winry playing with Den when he got hit with a letter.<p>

Ed opened the window, and in flew an owl. Mouth agape, it took a good ten seconds for him to realize that said owl had a letter in it's talons. He approached the owl carefully before he figured out that the thing was tame...somewhat.

"Edward Elric, Hohenhiem's study..."

Now Ed was suspicious. How the hell did these people know _exactly_ where he was?

"_Dear Mr. Elric, you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry..."_

Alphonse opened the door, and called out to his brother. Much to Ed's shock, his brother had also received a letter.

"Brother, what do we do? These people know where we live!" said Al.

"Hang on. We're sending a reply back."

Ed took out a pen and began to write a reply.

"_To whom it may concern,_

_Could someone please send a representative to our house and explain the letters? _

_While we are willing to accept TAME owls, the fact that you knew where we live is a bit disturbing. It would ease some of the issues we have over the fact that you could pinpoint where we were precisely at the time the letter arrived._

_Sincerely, Edward Elric."_

The owl in the study took the letter with patience. It had been trained to carry letters.

* * *

><p>Two days later a woman came to the house. She reminded Ed and Al forcefully of Teacher. But she didn't seem nearly as bad.<p>

"May we help you ma'am?" asked Alphonse.

"I am looking for Edward and Alphonse Elric."

"That would be us."

"Are your parents home?"

"Our mother died half a year ago ma'am. Our father left us a long time ago," said Ed calmly.

While disturbed at that news, she still asked to come in. Alphonse lead her into the living room while Ed did his best to make a simple tea. Finally he gave up on the hot water and resorted to alchemy instead.

Instant hot tea.

Once they settled in, the woman looked at them both.

"My name is Professor McGonagall. I teach Transfiguration at Hogwarts. What is it you wish to know?"

"First, I would like to thank you for coming all this way," started Ed.

She gave him a look that brooked no nonsense.

"How did you know where we were, and are you telling the truth about magic," said Ed, deciding to cut to the chase.

"Ah. Each letter addressed to a potential student is charmed so that it can find them practically anywhere. As for whether I'm telling the truth..."

She turned into her animal form, before turning back and then transforming the table into a dog and back. That set the boys off.

She heard a word in five. The words she heard the most were 'alchemy', 'laws', and 'equivalent exchange'.

"How did you do that?" they asked finally.

"Magic. That was an example of transfiguration, the subject I teach at the school."

* * *

><p>It took them another hour to square things away with McGonagall. First they had to get a legal guardian in order to attend the school. So they chose Granny Pinako. Winry was a bit miffed that she couldn't go.<p>

Their magical guardian on the other hand, couldn't be resolved as easily. Fortunately they wouldn't need one until later.

Ed and Al were like kids in a candy store while they went down the Alley. McGonagall took them firmly into the bank. Neither of them looked at the goblins oddly. In fact, Ed was downright cheerful when he saw them.

Only Alphonse knew why.

Once they had their account set up (Hogwarts automatically gives orphans a thousand galleon account to start with) they went shopping.

Ed and Al had to be pulled away from the second hand bookshop. Much to her amusement, both had found several advanced transfiguration books at a cheap price. Including a small book about Animagi.

It took less time than she would have thought leading the boys around the alley. They held some interest in the apothecary, little interest in the Quidditch supplies, and no interest in the herbology shops.

Finally they reached Ollivanders.

She watched with great interest how the boys reacted.

As usual, Ollivander appeared without warning from close by. Both boys instinctively went into a defensive stance the second they realized he was there.

They calmed down once they realized he wasn't going to attack.

Alphonse sat quietly next to McGonagall as Ed went through hundreds of wands. Finally his hand came upon a wand that sparked gold.

"Interesting combination that. Wood from a rare three that only blooms in the full moonlight with an extremely rare Solar chimera. Eleven inches, perfect for delicate transfiguration work."

Alphonse got up and went through half as many wands as his brother. Edward had discreetly kept count of how many failed wands he had gone through.

665 wands.

McGonagall paid for their wands and told them bluntly "You may each have one pet. Owls, cats and toads are the acceptable animals...though some people are allowed to bring rats or mice."

Seeing the look that crossed their faces she was silently relieved that they wouldn't buy rats or mice.

(And the reason was quiet funny really. For every ten rats that entered the castle as pets, four usually went missing before Christmas. Most of the students usually blamed Mrs. Norris. She didn't feel the need to correct that misconception.)

Alphonse had the strangest look on his face as he looked through the kittens. Ed had a silly grin on his as he watched his brother.

Then he looked around and spotted an interesting egg. It was almost pure gold with hints of red and blue.

He picked it up and looked at it closer.

"That egg appeared nine months ago. Two galleons for the egg, and ten sickles for the kittens."

"Wait, _kittens?" _said Ed suspiciously.

He turned around to find his brother with two little kittens. One was a golden color while the other looked like someone had smashed it's face in. It was an interesting ginger color.

It was then that Al did something Ed hated with a passion. He turned the biggest, most sorrowful eyes on his brother.

"Gah!" cried Ed.

He was no match for those eyes.

They walked out of the shop with an egg and two kittens. One of the kittens (the ginger haired one) rode on Alphonse's shoulder. The gold one rode in Ed's pocket.

"So what are you going to name them?"

Al looked at the gold one and said "Eddy."

Ed looked at his little brother in confusion.

"He reminded me of you," shrugged Al.

"And ginger here?" he nodded his head to the other cat.

Al thought about that for a moment before he said "Chibi."

The ginger haired cat growled at him in warning.

"Hono?"

The cat gave him a look.

"It means 'flame'."

The kitten began to purr.

Ed grinned.

"Smart cat."

* * *

><p>Since they were stuck in the Leaky Cauldron until the day the train left, the two people watched.<p>

It was fairly boring, until August came around. That was the day they met the most interesting person around. And his name was Harry.

"Hullo. I'm Ed and this is my little brother Al."

The rather timid boy held out his hand.

"I'm Harry and this is Hagrid."

"Cool. You guys heading for your supplies? We're really bored waiting until the school term starts. Mind if we join you?"

Eddy popped it's head out of his pocket and meowed.

"Oh yeah. This is Eddy."

Harry snickered.

Ed and Al took Harry on a grand tour of the alley. Hagrid was more than happy to let them show Harry around. He was busy recovering from the ride on the Gringotts carts.

Since Harry definitely had deeper pockets than they did, Ed and Al showed him the best places to buy his school things. They had been there long enough to pick up a few things.

Harry walked out of that alley with an Auror class trunk with multiple compartments, enough books to fill half the library in the trunk, and an owl courtesy of Hagrid. (And once Ed and Al learned that Harry's birthday had been the day before, they promptly introduced him into the world of alchemy. He was hooked.)

Alphonse and Ed were bored.

Ed had promptly brought out the book on the history of alchemy that he had discovered in the second hand book shop. It was their only copy.

* * *

><p>It was Al who spotted Harry and waved to the boy. Harry brightened up immediately and headed straight for them. The brothers helped him put his trunk up before they decided to catch up on what had happened.<p>

Harry actually fit in perfectly with the two brothers. Ed was as protective of the boy as he was of Al, and Al felt a kindred spirit in Harry.

Halfway into the ride, a red haired boy popped in.

"Mind if I sit here? Everywhere else is full," he claimed.

Al cocked his head.

"That's odd. According the _Hogwarts: a History_, the train is charmed to add compartments to accommodate the students," said Alphonse.

Eventually he left, but not before he somehow managed to annoy Ed so much that he got a black eye.

It wasn't long before they boys were pigging out on wizard candy. Ed had developed a love for chocolate frogs. The second they figured out that the frogs weren't actually alive, the other boys began to attack the pile as well. Ed kept gagging on the jelly beans.

"They mean every flavor," he said, choking. The others laughed at him as they experimented with the beans.

A girl popped in asking about a toad.

"I think there's an advanced spell that can summon things. Perhaps the upperclassmen know it?" suggested Ed.

"Of course! The summoning charm! I'm sure the Prefects know it!" she said excitedly.

She left after closing the door quietly.

Ed was busy playing poker with Harry and Al when the door opened for a third time.

The boy in the door was pale blond, arrogant, and annoyed Ed simply by being there. The goons on either side of the boy didn't look too bright at all.

"Argh! What do you want? I'm winning here!" said Ed in exasperation.

The pale blond lifted an eyebrow at the game. In the center of the makeshift table was a small pile of every flavored beans. Harry had the biggest pile, with Ed right behind him.

"They've been saying on the train that Harry Potter is arriving to Hogwarts."

Harry winced.

Ed scowled, "What's your point? Who cares what his name is?"

"Clearly you don't know who you are talking to, mudblood. Everyone in our world _knows_ who he is."

"Who is he then?" asked Ed with narrowed eyes.

"He's the Boy-who-lived, the only known survivor of the killing curse and the one who took out Voldemort."

"And?" said Ed.

The pale blond gave him an odd look.

"And he's the most famous underage wizard alive right now."

"I'm sorry, but what exactly is your point?" said Alphonse.

Apparently the boy had no reply to that. He had never met people who not only didn't know who Harry Potter was, but honestly could care less.

"Who are you anyway?" demanded Ed.

"Malfoy. Draco Malfoy," said the blond pompously.

"Edward Elric. This is Harry and my younger brother Alphonse."

"_Elric?"_

"What of it?" said Ed in a growl.

"You aren't related to Hohenhiem of Light are you?" said Draco in shock.

"Hohenhiem was my dad's name, why?"

"You don't know? Hohenhiem of Light is renowned among potion-makers for discovering most of the uses for Chimera blood! And he discovered most of the valuable animals for potions!"

"What?"

Clearly the boys didn't know much about their own father.

"I can't believe you didn't know."

"Our dad left us when we were little. We haven't seen him since, not even for our mother's funeral," said Ed darkly.

Luckily for the boys, Draco left quickly left after that. Of course he left with more questions than answers.

Namely why his godfather never mentioned that Hohenhiem's sons were on board.

Ed and Al were bored. Harry was nervous at first until Ed and Al started cracking jokes.

* * *

><p>On the boat ride to the castle, Ed and Al made a new friend in a boy named Neville. Neville had a love for plants that he couldn't express because of his fear. He was terrified of his own grandmother.<p>

Ed had chuckled at that and told Neville of their surrogate granny...who was known to throw wrenches at them when they messed up the laundry.

That had shocked the other person on the boat, the girl who had entered the cabin earlier. Her name was Hermione.

"Granny Pinako may be an old hag, but she's alright. She took us in when our mom died."

* * *

><p>They entered the hall, and most of the eleven year old children were scared out of their wits or excited. Ed and Al were just bored. They half paid attention to what McGonagall said, before they prepared to help Harry.<p>

The green eyed boy had caught their attention, and as far as they were concerned he was a part of the family.

One by one they sat on the stool to be sorted.

"Elric, Alphonse!"

_Hmm...loyal, hardworking and brave. There is only one place that would suit a gentle child like you._

"_HUFFLEPUFF!"_

"Elric, Edward!"

_Brave, rash, loyal and protective. The only real ambition that you have is to protect those who are family. You are best suited for..._

"_GRYFFINDOR!"_

Things went smoothly after that until...

"Potter, Harry!"

_Brave, loyal, cunning, and intelligent. You would fit into any house here! Which house would you like to go in? I am having a rather difficult time placing you._

Harry's mind brought forth the image of Alphonse and Ed. The golden haired boy acted like the older brother he had always wanted but never had.

_Oh ho! So you have already formed a bond with these two? In that case, which one do you with to share a dorm with?  
><em>

_Ed._

"_GRYFFINDOR!"_

The roar was deafening as Harry timidly sat next to Ed. A pair of twins were doing the happy dance.

Ed and Harry ended up right next to each other. Harry had a silly little grin when he realized this.

They were asleep in minutes.

* * *

><p>Ed woke up with the sun out of habit. Ever since the brothers had returned from Teacher's hellish training a few weeks after learning they had magic, the habit hadn't really wore off.<p>

Harry was yawning and crawling out of bed. Ed raised an eyebrow.

"My family had me cooked all the meals, including breakfast."

That surprised Ed.

Both were in and out of the shower within thirty minutes. Harry had to help Ed with the tie, until he finally threw it down in annoyance.

"I am _never_ wearing this!" Ed proclaimed, which had Harry laugh.

Fifteen minutes later, and Harry followed suit. He didn't really like the tie anyway.

Ed found his little brother at the Puff table, discussing gardening tips with Neville. The timid boy was thrilled to have someone his own age that loved plants as much as he did. Ed promptly crashed on the bench next to his brother.

"Ed! And...Harry? Why are you up so early?" asked Al.

"I slept in. normally I'm up by five," said Harry with a shrug. (The unofficial master of cooking while nearly half asleep and still getting the food perfect.)

Ed was literally growling as his stomach announced it wanted breakfast, and it wanted it _now._ Whoever cooked the food took the hint and it wasn't long before the boys were eating breakfast.

McGonagall frowned when she saw where her lions were, but still gave them their schedules.

Ed had a better sense of direction than Harry, and managed to get them to the class well before the bell began.

Though he was carrying at least three bags of food for a snack later. When he spotted the cat on the desk he grinned.

Ed put his things down and searched for something in his bag. His grin widened when he found it. In his hands was a cat toy that he had bought to play with the two kittens that Al had. (Though unofficially the gold one belonged to Ed.)

He walked up to the stern looking cat and moved the fluffy toy around it. It didn't take long for the cat to become interested and start attacking it. Harry laughed and joined in on the fun by finding some string.

* * *

><p>The bell rang half an hour later, and they finally sat down. Once everyone was seated, the cat jumped from the desk and gave them all a shock!<p>

The stern looking cat on the desk was McGonagall herself!

"Ten points to Gryffindor for kindness towards animals."

Ed's mouth shut loudly once he realized he had been playing with his teacher for the past thirty minutes. Harry was snickering at his expression.

Fifteen minutes into the lesson, Ron Weasly showed up, claiming to have gotten lost. Ed rolled his eyes at the lame excuse.

* * *

><p>Charms was a rather interesting lesson, especially when the teacher fell off during roll call when he said Harry's name. Ed snickered then, and had his head in the book for half the lesson.<p>

* * *

><p>Potions. Most of the other Gryffindor students were dreading the lesson, as the older students had mentioned a teacher biased towards Slytherin. Which didn't help, because they were always paired with Slytherin in class.<p>

Ed on the other hand, couldn't wait to go to class. Harry was skeptical, but once he learned what potions entailed, he was all for it.

He loved cooking.

Ed shivered. The potions classroom was cold, dank and had an odd smell. It didn't help that most of the other students had been whispering dark things about the teacher.

Though he did look at the odd jars around the room. He wondered how they could be used to create potions.

The door slammed open, and all talking stopped. Ed hurried back to his seat, hoping the teacher didn't notice him out of it.

Professor Snape gave his usual speech, ignoring the blond who snickered when he called most of his students dunderheads.

Then it all went to hell in a hand basket. First he started drilling questions at the Potter-spawn, then he trips over a large indent in the floor that definitely had _not _been there five seconds ago.

While he was getting up, he noted the odd striations on the stone. He recognized them after a moments thought.

Alchemy.

He stifled a growl and continued to harass Potter, who had taken the time to answer his previous question correctly. Before Snape could turn, he felt something beneath his feet.

The brat wasn't going to pull it off twice! His foot came down, and he fell flat on his face. He looked where his foot was.

Whoever the alchemy brat was, he was good. Instead of doing the same trick from before, he had turned the stone beneath Snape's foot into sticky adhesive. Which impressed Snape somewhat.

That still wouldn't spare the brat a nasty detention when Snape finally_ caught _him.

The lesson went on as planned, though Snape was in a foul mood when Weasly's potion exploded.

* * *

><p>When Potions ended, three things were certain.<p>

One, Snape hated alchemists who clearly didn't respect a teacher's authority.

Two, someone or something had managed to prank him _twice_ in full view of impressionable eleven year old kids.

And three, if Snape found the culprit before McGonagall or Dumbledore, they were screwed sideways.

All in all, Ed considered it a perfect lesson, as he snickered the second he was well out of hearing range of the very irate Potions teacher.


	2. Nicholas

Harry had a rather interesting schedule for the first week. Upon learning how severely underweight he was from years of neglect, Edward and Alphonse tag teamed against him and had him learning how to throw a proper punch.

Hermione, the Raven in the Lion's den, had found a rival in Ed. It was quite funny really. While she could answer any question correctly, only Edward would go out of his way to explain_ why_ it worked. Thanks to him Gryffindor was up by fifty points before the first week was out. The teachers were quite impressed with him.

And Hermione was furious. While she could be seen in the library most times of the day when class was not in session, Edward would only take out what interested him or anything that would get his homework done faster.

He was the golden boy of the teachers, yet he never once acted like a teacher's pet. The irony was that Harry was supposed to be the golden boy of Gryffindor. Edward had taken over his position without even a fuss.

And from what the rumors were saying, it was quite possible that Harry would be adopted by Granny Pinako by Christmas. Which would make Edward and Alphonse his brothers.

* * *

><p>Edward walked with Harry to Hagrid's little hut near the forest. It was rather small for someone his size, but when Edward went in, he could tell that where it lacked in size it made up in comfort. The whole house seemed to feel like Hagrid. He grinned when he saw Fang, who was trying to lick Harry to death. Edward scratched the hound on the ears, which made his back leg go nuts.<p>

Harry and Edward spent the entire afternoon talking to Hagrid. Hagrid seemed a bit upset that Edward had made a fool of Snape on his first day.

"Yer know Snape is threatening to hang yer by yer ankles if he catches ye."

"He can try," smirked Ed.

* * *

><p>Edward sat down and read his newest book from the library. Then something caught his eye. It was a small word, but it was the word itself that had his interest.<p>

_Alchemist._

The book went on to describe about Nicholas Flamel, a noted alchemist who was still alive...and was currently over six hundred years old. A glint appeared in Edward's eyes. It might be worth his time to write the man.

Ed looked up from his book and saw Harry still struggling on his homework.

"Hey Harry, how would you like to make a deal?"

Harry looked at him with suspicion. He had learned very quickly that dealing with Ed was like dealing with the Weasly twins. You had best count your fingers afterword.

"Nothing too major. Just want to borrow your owl."

"And in exchange?"

"I help you with your homework."

"Deal. Want me to call her?"

Ed shook his head.

"Need to write a letter first. What are you working on now?"

Harry made a face.

"Potions and Transfiguration."

Ed walked over to his surrogate brother and looked at what he was doing. He gave Harry the pages he needed, and corrected his grammar. Hermione watched him with disapproval clear on her face.

"You shouldn't help him."

Ed gave her a look.

"I may be giving him the pages he needs, but I am not doing all the work for him. Besides, the less time he spends looking up the right answers, the more time he has to use it constructively, like practicing what he has learned."

Hermione pursed her lips, as if she thought the whole idea was foolish. Ed shrugged. She would have to learn that not everyone enjoyed reading books all day.

* * *

><p>Nicholas Flamel looked up when he heard the hoot. A beautiful snow white owl landed gracefully on his table. In her claws was a letter, obviously written by a student of sorts.<p>

As he opened the letter and waved the owl off to the plate of bacon, his eyes slowly widened.

An eleven year old with a clear grasp of alchemy was writing him. What was more was the child happened to be the son of a prominent alchemist by the name of Hohenheim. Someone who had been missing for the past seven years.

Clearly the boy took after his father, because his wording was clear and precise. He even included a proper circle drawn free hand.

Nicholas began to chuckle. It might be worth his time to go to England and meet the boy. And he could use that time to clear up something that had bothered him after a rather disturbing letter from Gringotts. The fake stone he had left for Albus to use had been removed.

It was a simple red water mixture with a few stabilizing factors. His personal stone which he used was still in his house. Unlike Hohenhiem, his last apprentice, he didn't think humans were the proper ingredient to create a stable stone.

He began to pen his letter, and much to his amusement, the owl waiting for him patiently. She delicately took the letter before flying off.

"What was that about love?" asked Perenelle.

"The son of Hohenhiem has sent us a letter dear. It seems that he has taken up where his father has left off. Look at the splendid circle he drew!"

"Very well done for a free hand drawing."

"Let's just hope that he doesn't make the same mistake his father did."

* * *

><p>Edward looked up when he spotted Hedwig. He read the free flowing script on the paper and made a face. Why did everyone go on and on about his dad? He didn't even like the guy.<p>

Still, he did start his next letter to the ancient alchemist before bed. Harry didn't mind that Edward used his owl. He didn't have anyone he wanted to write to, and Hedwig seemed to enjoy the exercise.

Time seemed to fly, and the only time they bothered to look up anymore was when Edward had sent a letter. He let Harry read the response and his own before he sent them.

The only real excitement the boys had was the flying lesson. And the resulting aftermath...

* * *

><p>Harry winced as Hermione took off too soon and ending up breaking her right wrist. She wouldn't be able to do any homework for a few days at least.<p>

Edward winced as well. If Hermione couldn't do any homework, she would be unbearable. She shrieked enough when Ed assisted the other lions with theirs.

Harry and Ed waited impatiently for the teacher to return. Alas, Draco decided to annoy Ron, and it didn't take long for the Slytherin to fly above the rather irritating red head.

Harry wobbly flew up to Draco and told him to knock it off.

Instead Draco took out something he had picked up in the hallway which Harry immediately recognized. It was something Neville's gran had sent him that morning.

Draco didn't even bother to think, he just threw it as hard as he could. Harry didn't pause to think either. He flew as fast as he could to catch the glass ball.

Edward cursed, and took off after him. Even though Harry managed to catch the ball, he had difficultly maintaining his grip with one hand. He spotted Ed and tossed it. Ed caught it expertly and grinned.

They tossed the ball back and forth to each other, Harry managing to catch it better than he could toss.

By the time they landed the other students were cheering. Ron just sulked.

McGonagall went up to them with a scowl.

Ed and Harry winced.

(As it turned out, she wasn't going to give them detention. Harry became the new Seeker, and Edward became the reserve Keeper. Wood got taken out of the game so often it wasn't funny.)

* * *

><p>Ed looked skeptically at his broom. It was one of the spares that the school had. It was falling apart at the seams.<p>

Ed had been bored, so he convinced Harry to practice with him. Harry would attempt to get the ball past Ed and Ed would help him catch it.

It was only a week before the first match. And Ed still hadn't managed to get a broom. He couldn't afford one. Harry offered to lend him the money, but Ed was as stubborn as a mule. He didn't want charity, no matter how well meaning it was. Alphonse had soothed Harry's hurt feelings about the matter at least.

Three days before Halloween, Ed got a surprise. It was a long package with an odd shape on one end. It was being carried by three owls, and they could barely get through the dorm window.

Once Harry relieved them of their package, they flew off.

Ed read the note and his eyes widened in shock. The package was from Flamel.

"_Dear Edward,_

_I heard about your difficulty in acquiring a proper broom, and I hope you don't think of this as charity._

_Just don't be surprised to see me at your first game. I fully expect to talk to you in person, so don't try to weasel out of it. I will be in the Gryffindor stands with my wife. You should be able to recognize me easily, since I will be the only person wearing what you would call _normal_ clothing like blue jeans._

_Nicholas."_

Edward grinned.

"I suppose this is a bribe for me to talk to him," said Edward.

Harry stared at the beautiful mahogany handle. It was in a script he didn't recognize, and certainly looked expensive.

Edward on the other hand, recognized the writing off the bat. He had a thing for ancient and foreign writing. The broom model was written in ancient Greek.

"So this is a _Hermes _three hundred. Wonder how much this cost him," said Ed.

"You can read that?"

"It's Greek. And I happen to like languages, so sue me."

"Can you speak it too?" asked Harry amused.

"Not a word. I can only read most of it, not speak it. Believe me I have tried, and I always have such a bad accent no one understands me."

Harry snickered. At least now Ed wouldn't complain that his broom sucked.

* * *

><p>Ed kept looking for a certain bushy haired know it all. While he didn't agree with her views of what he called 'homework help', he did like her company. At least she knew enough about science to keep him happy.<p>

Instead she was suspiciously absent. And that, in his mind, didn't bode well.

"So tell me again why there is an enormous amount of candy on the table?" said Ed.

Harry shook his head amused.

"Muggle custom. On Halloween they take their children for treats. It's called Trick or treating."

"And?"

"Well if you don't get any candy or treats, then you are allowed to play a trick on the people."

"I still don't get what this all has to do with candy and pranks."

"I don't either, but it has something to do with the veil between life and death being thin. Apparently spirits are supposed to have an easier time coming through, so ghouls and the like play tricks. People started handing out treats to convince them to go away. Muggles must have picked up on that and started the trick or treating custom," said Harry.

"Ah... It still makes no sense. Has anyone seen Hermione? Maybe she can explain it to me," said Ed.

"Not since Charms," said Dean.

"What happened?" asked Ed. He had seen Ron's guilty look.

"He insulted Hermione after Charms. Said she had no friends. According to Parvati, she's been in the bathroom all afternoon, crying her eyes out," said Seamus.

Ed scowled at the red head. Ron had gotten on his nerves since that day on the train. It seemed the boy thought it his right to be Harry's best friend, when anyone with a pair of eyes could see that Harry preferred Edward's company. Ed at least, never paid a lick of attention to his scar, and always gave him some proper back up.

Ron, on the other hand, always stared at the scar with something akin to jealousy. He never helped Harry out in any way or form, and instead blamed Edward for his poor grades. Edward shunned the boy who never paid attention when Ed handed out the page numbers for the other first years. His little tip sheet had resulted in a jump in the grades.

McGonagall hadn't liked it, but when Ed explained his reasoning she didn't remove it. She turned her attention to more pressing matters, like what the twins were up to.

(Unknown to Edward, the Ravenclaws had heard of his system, and the Upperclassmen took time out of their day to help the younger students by doing the same thing. It resulted in less time spent on homework and more time in practicing or reading more informative books. They had declared Edward an honorary Ravenclaw because of it.)

Suddenly Quirrell, the one teacher Ed never listened to, burst into the great hall. He seemed flustered.

"Troll! In the dungeon! There's a troll in the dungeon! Thought you ought to know..." he promptly fainted.

Ed rolled his eyes. He loathed theatrics like that. It was very obvious to him that either the man had something to do with the troll, or he had wanted the students in a frenzy to cover something up. Either way, there wasn't any real call for him to break into the hall and cause such a fuss.

Harry looked frantic.

"Hermione! She doesn't know about the troll!"

Ed said something then that had Percy looking at him sharply, and the twins grinning in glee.

"Well F**k."

Instead of running off to rescue her, he went up to McGonagall instead.

"Professor, Hermione Granger is in the second floor bathroom without any knowledge of the troll. Shouldn't someone be sent up there to retrieve her before it leaves the dungeons?" said Edward calmly.

"What? Why isn't she in the great hall?" she exclaimed.

"Ronald Weasly made a crass remark about her having no friends, and it upset her. According to Patil, she's been in there all afternoon."

McGonagall scowled. There was no call for such a remark.

"I will retrieve miss Granger. Thank you for informing me, Mr. Elric. Twenty points to Gryffindor for calm thinking."

Ed grinned, and dragged Harry with him.

"McGonagall knows about Hermione. She'll take care of it."

Harry reluctantly followed Ed. Ten minutes in the tower and Hermione came in, shell shocked. Apparently McGonagall had only just found her before the troll arrived. It was currently destroying the girl's bathroom while the teachers were trying to figure out what to do with it.

Hermione walked up to Edward and thanked him.

"Hermione, next time some idiot (he looks at Ron pointedly, who was too busy eating to see the look) says you don't have friends, send them to me. I consider you to be a friend, even if you are a bit uptight."

What happened next was the funniest thing Harry had seen in a long time. Hermione tackled Edward in a hug. The look on the blond's face was utterly _hilarious._

Ed ended up being teased about it for a month.

* * *

><p>Edward watched from the ground as Harry tried to find the little gold ball that would end the silly game. He had already spotted Nicholas Flamel, because he was the only person in any of the stands that was not wearing a robe of sorts.<p>

He still hated wearing the things. They restricted his movement.

Wood made a spectacular play and sent the red ball to Angelina. Flint, the leader of the opposing team, snatched the bat from his beater's hands and sent the bludger right at Wood. The boy fell to the ground hard. Ed winced.

Hooch called a time out while Wood was taken from the field. Edward knew it was his turn.

He kicked off the ground as hard as he could. He was at the goals in less than five seconds.

It seemed the Hermes brooms were faster than even a Nimbus. He grinned evilly.

The Slytherins seemed to think he was easy prey, because they kept sending the bludgers to him. Unfortunately for them, Edward had expected as much.

And had double checked the rules four times. There was nothing in the rules about the Keeper_ using_ a bat. They mostly focused on the quaffle and never the bludger. Ed on the other hand, had no qualms about using the Beater's bat to aim the black balls at the Slytherin team. When he saw Harry having trouble, he took careful aim.

No one expected the bludger to be sent into the Slytherin stands, or for it to hit Quirrell. Harry's broom quit acting up, and the game resumed.

Hooch of course had to issue a penalty shot. But Harry caught the Snitch long before the chasers had any chance to use it. He did feel sorry for Harry, because he seriously doubted that the Snitch tasted good. And Harry had nearly choked on it!

Flint, once the game was called, had tried to cry foul over Edward's use of the bat he had on him. So Ed pointed out in the rules that there was nothing against it, with a shit eating grin. Hooch of course double checked that herself, and announced that there was no actual rule against it, so long as Edward didn't actually use the bat itself on other players.

Nicholas approached the blond Keeper, with a grin. He had thought the trick brilliant. Edward spotted him and grinned.

"So you're Nicholas. I thought you would look older," smirked Ed. The other players were busy carrying Harry off to the showers. Alphonse came down from the stands, grinning.

"I thought you would be taller. So we're even," replied Nicholas grinning.

"I loathe milk," was all Ed would say on the matter.

Perenelle approached as well. It didn't take long for the four of them to start talking about alchemy and schooling. Nicholas and Perenelle thought the trip well worth the money they spent. Not only did Nicholas secure two new apprentices once they graduated Hogwarts, but he also learned that Edward and Alphonse were nothing like their father. Which was a relief really.

Hohenhiem was too focused on immortality to worry about morality. His sons on the other hand, appeared to be more concerned about their family than living forever.


	3. Miracles and Nightmares

Dumbledore was nothing if not observant. While he had not seen Quirrell try to kill Harry, he had heard about the man who spoke to Edward and Alphonse. A man who sounded very much like the alchemist who had refused his apprenticeship over a disagreement about the Stone.

Nicholas Flamel didn't think that his views of the Greater Good made him worthy enough to learn under him. The only person who had managed to keep his apprenticeship for longer than six months was Hohenhiem of Light. And even then he was dropped after he had gotten into a fight with the aging alchemist.

He had stepped up to the plate, hoping for a second chance with the alchemist. And he had succeeded to a point. He managed to procure a Sorcerer's stone.

Still, it would not bode well if the Elric brothers took after their father. It was bad enough their father had refused to talk to him since he graduated.

* * *

><p>Hermione seemed to think Snape was behind Harry's broom being jinxed. Ed, however, knew it to be Quirrell's doing.<p>

"Hermione, if Snape wanted to kill someone, he would be going after me, not Harry."

"Why?" she asked suspiciously.

"Remember our first potion's class?" asked Ed with a raised eyebrow.

"That was _you_?" she nearly shrieked.

Ed shrugged.

"He was harassing Harry. Is it my fault he didn't look where he placed his foot?"

"Have you _any_ idea what he would do to you if he found out?"

"Now you see how I _know_ it wasn't him trying to kill Harry. Me, yes, Harry no."

Hermione shook her head at Ed's death wish. Snape was still furious about the whole incident.

Which is why Ed wasn't going to let the school know it was him until after Christmas. He had looked up the rules, and much to his delight, a teacher couldn't issue a detention for something that happened during a previous term unless the charge was very grave. And Edward seriously doubted that tripping a teacher twice was that bad.

* * *

><p>Harry was depressed. Christmas was almost here, and he was stuck in the tower with no one but the twins to keep him company.<p>

Or so he thought.

Before he could sign his name down on the sheet, Ed had cornered him.

"Harry, would you like to spend Christmas with us back in Resembool?"

"You mean with your family?" Harry asked, surprised.

"Yeah, your practically family anyway, and there's nothing in the rules about students crashing in someone else's bed."

Harry's face lit up. He wouldn't have to spend the holidays in the drafty castle after all!

"And I talked to McGonagall about it. She said that any presents you received during the hols would be held for you in a private location, so we can open them up when we get back."

"Ed, have I ever told you how awesome you are?"

Edward preened. He always loved hearing compliments like that.

"So you joining us or what?"

"Absolutely!" said Harry.

"Oh, I almost forgot. Nicholas and his wife said they would be joining us. Apparently they find the holiday to be boring without friends."

Harry grinned. He couldn't wait to meet Granny Pinako and Winry. Ed and Al had described them often enough that he really wanted to meet them.

* * *

><p>Dumbledore signed off on the student's release forms, not bothering to look at them. Which is why he failed to see Harry's name on the sheet that allowed him to leave the school.<p>

McGonagall neglected to tell him as well, because she feared for Harry's safety. It had become blindingly obvious to her and the other Heads of House that Harry had been neglected. It was only because of Edward and Alphonse that he had finally started to look better.

* * *

><p>Nicholas hummed as he prepared to visit his old student's home. Edward and Alphonse were a delight to talk to, and he suspected that Harry had a knack for the art as well.<p>

Perenelle wrapped the presents in a tidy manner, and placed them in their bag. Pinako was a most pleasant woman to talk to, once she was told of why they had taken an interest in the boys. And once she met the two of them, she had felt relief. It seemed that she was a very good woman, even if her hobbies were a tad odd.

* * *

><p>Harry sat on the train with his book. Nicholas had sent the boys a complete set of Shakespeare's work, and they had become addicted. Harry was reading <em>Macbeth<em> at the moment. Edward had lent Hermione his copy of Romeo and Juliet, so she would quit squealing with jealousy.

Ed looked at his surrogate brother amused, when Harry suddenly quoted something from the book.

"'_I dare do all that may become a man. Who dares do more is none._'"

Alphonse looked up from _A Midsummer Night's Dream._

"'_If we shadows have offended, think but this and all is mended._'"

Edward rolled his eyes.

"Are all of you going to start quoting Shakespeare?"

Hermione looked up and smirked.

"'_If it were done, then it were well done quickly._'"

Edward groaned in dismay.

"You aren't going to keep this up the entire train ride are you?"

The three smirked at him. Edward put his hand to his face. He was really regretting sitting with them right now.

"Fine, if you're going to play that way, then I guess I can do it to. '_When shall we three meet again? In thunder, lightning or in rain? _

_When hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won. _

_That will be ere the set of sun. _

_Upon the heath. _

_There to meet with Macbeth. _

_Fair is foul and foul is fair. Hover through the fog and filthy air._'"

The four burst out laughing. Ed had pretty much quoted the beginning of Macbeth. An idea hit him.

"Hey, how about we pull that one on Nicholas?" Ed grinned.

Harry and Alphonse snickered.

"You two had better write me," said Hermione.

"Better yet we'll send you presents, all hand made."

Hermione beamed at them. Since Edward had told her that he was her friend, she had started to loosen up a little. It was a start, at the very least.

* * *

><p>The train slowed into the station. There waiting for them was Hermione's parents and Nicholas. Pinako couldn't see the station, and she would have difficultly getting into it. Nicholas had carefully guided Hermione's folks through the barrier.<p>

The four children left the carriage, went up to Nicholas and quoted _Macbeth _directly. The ancient alchemist laughed.

"I see someone enjoyed the old bard's work!" he laughed.

"These three haven't stopped quoting one book or another the entire ride here," whined Ed.

"This coming from someone who quoted the beginning of _Macbeth_?" smirked Harry.

"Bite me."

"Sorry, not a vampire or a werewolf I'm afraid," said Alphonse.

That had Nicholas laughing again. Hermione's parents seemed very relieved that she had found friends who at least didn't mind her company.

They split up into their groups, and left without too much hassle.

* * *

><p>"ED! AL!" said Winry when she spotted them. The boys winced.<p>

"Be prepared to duck Harry," hissed Ed.

"Why?"

"3,2,1..." whispered Al.

The Elrics ducked together as Winry launched a wrench. Harry, on the other hand, caught the errant tool. He raised an eyebrow.

"She always greet you that way?" he asked, amused.

"We forgot to mail her..." replied Ed.

"You did, but I've owled her a few times," said Alphonse.

"Traitor!"

Al laughed, and raced them to the door. Den met them halfway, barking.

Nicholas and Harry both looked very amused.

* * *

><p>It was a very enjoyable Christmas for Harry. It was the first time he ever got to enjoy it. Pinako and Winry treated him like family, Ed and Al were cracking everyone up, and the Flamels were a lot of fun to hang out with, despite being the oldest people in the house.<p>

The presents were opened in due time, with everyone pleased with the results.

Winry and Pinako both received new tools, and a brand new tool box to put them in. Ed and Al got more alchemy books that even they had yet to read. Nicholas and Perenelle received alchemy-made gifts from the boys. Harry felt like he had the best present of all though.

Pinako had managed to become his legal guardian. Much to his surprise, the Dursley family were never officially registered as his legal guardians. Nicholas had pulled some strings, and thanks to his help, Pinako ended up with his custody. And since none of the brothers had a magical guardian (who would oversee any matters in the magical communities until they reached seventeen) Nicholas ended up being their sponsor. Well, Ed and Al's anyway. Harry had enough money in his trust to pay for all seven years.

But now Dumbledore could no longer managed his finances. Something that had him furious when he learned of it. In less than a week a flurry of owls descended on Harry, all with overdue bank statements. Nicholas had rescued the poor kid from the avalanche, and helped him sort out the mess.

* * *

><p>Ed was bored. While he had a lot of fun hitting people with snow balls, (surprisingly enough, Nicholas managed to beat all three boys and Winry) he knew his fun couldn't last.<p>

They would have to go back to the castle, and be cooped up for the final exams. Which meant that during the best time of the year, no one would be allowed outside to enjoy the fresh air.

And Edward was a doer, not a thinker. He would rather be outside in the sun than sitting inside with a book...though he often took books outside in the shade.

Nicholas approached him. Ed had decided to go to his mother's grave alone.

"She was a kind woman," said Nicholas unexpectedly.

"You knew her?"

"Before your father left my shop, he brought his wife. It was a shame that she couldn't use her magic properly."

"What?"

Nicholas seemed surprised.

"You didn't know? Your mother was a squib, someone born to a magical family but unable to actually use it. Though come to think of it, I don't recall her telling your father that."

"My mom...had magic?"

"From an old line. I believe she was the last of the Slytherin clan if I remember right. They don't accept squibs."

That hit Edward like one of Winry's wrenches. His mother...had magic. And she was a Slytherin no less! Then he remembered her smile, and her warmth. She was always patient with them, and was so proud when she saw their accomplishments.

He shook off his shock. No matter what, she was still his mother. And he was going to bring her back, if only to see her smile again.

"Come on lad. Pinako is making a hot pot, and she sent me to find you."

Edward followed in silence.

* * *

><p>Nicholas looked at Edward's egg in fascination.<p>

"A true phoenix egg! I haven't seen one of these in years!"

"According to the menagerie owner, it had been in there for nine months," said Ed.

"Well a phoenix egg takes at _least_ two years to hatch," said Nicholas.

"Two years?" said Ed in shock.

Nicholas nodded.

"But those with the patience of hatching and raising one will never find a more loyal familiar. They can heal wounds, cure any poison, carry enormous loads, and be reborn from their own ashes. The only time one dies is when their bounded does."

Ed looked at the odd egg in shock. He had never known what he had picked up that day. As far as the staff knew, Eddy was his familiar. Not even Dumbledore knew about the egg.

Nicholas promised to send him a book on phoenix care. By the time they reached the train, they were exhausted.

* * *

><p>Things seemed to calm down after the rather interesting confrontation with the headmaster. He didn't take it well when he learned of Harry's new family.<p>

Especially when his role as magical guardian was thrown out the window for Nicholas.

So he decided to test Harry anyway by tempting him with the stone. He dropped vague hints to Hermione, and she fell for most of them. Soon she became concerned that someone was after a powerful magical artifact that had been hidden in the school.

Edward wasn't as concerned. If someone wanted to steal an artifact, then let them. He knew that the old codger would play a cruel trick on the thief.

Unfortunately, Hermione somehow managed to convince Harry and Alphonse into protecting the artifact. Only to find out it was the reason Nicholas was still alive.

Harry and Alphonse didn't believe that hogwash for a second. Nicholas wouldn't leave something as valuable as that to Dumbledore.

It was the night before everyone went home. Edward was looking in the library one last time. His hand caught on a book that wasn't put up properly.

Edward would have placed it on the shelf properly...had he not caught the name of the author.

_Even here, my old man haunts me._

Edward looked at the book, and held back a gasp. The circle inscribed looked powerful. It was perhaps powerful enough to bring back his mother.

Edward put the book in his bag, and didn't look back. The librarian didn't notice that the book had been removed.

That alone should have tipped Ed up that it was a setup.

* * *

><p>Harry seemed worried about Edward's plan. Something about it just didn't seem right.<p>

"Ed, I don't think this is the answer," said Harry.

Alphonse nodded in agreement. While he also missed their mother, he didn't share Ed's overwhelming desire to bring her back. He was content with memories.

"I can't explain it better than I have," was his reply.

"Can't we talk to Nicholas or Perenelle? Maybe they would have some insight..." started Harry.

Edward shook his head firmly. Nicholas had told him the reason why he dropped their father's apprenticeship, even though he was clearly a talented alchemist.

Their father had dabbled in the forbidden alchemy, though he was very vague by what he meant. As far as Edward knew, Hohenhiem had broken Nicholas' trust by using humans to make his own Philosopher's stone.

(That was part of the reason, but not the complete truth.)

He felt an urge to bring back their mother. He couldn't explain what drove him other than the desire to see her smile again.

Edward and Alphonse studied up on every book in their father's study. Harry was still getting a grasp on the third level books. While he was able to draw a circle free hand, he just needed a better understanding on how to create.

Every time he attempted to create something inanimate, it would either fail spectacularly, or looked really, really warped.

(He knew full well it was a source of amusement to the others, especially Ed. Alphonse was at least sympathetic, because he had trouble with it too.)

Every once in a while Harry would look up and ask them a question. Ed would answer without blinking, and Harry would understand the concept a little better.

None of the brothers had owled Nicholas or Perenelle all summer. Edward was afraid they would catch wind of what he was planning and try to stop him.

* * *

><p>Edward double checked his calculations. The circle he had seen in the book was almost ready. He just needed to tweak a few things before they could attempt it.<p>

Pinako and Winry suspected something was up. Even if they didn't know what that circle meant, they had a very bad feeling about it. But they remained silent.

They just didn't know what to do.

"Brother, are you sure this is a good idea?" asked Alphonse, not for the first time.

Harry and Alphonse had questioned Edward several times on whether or not it was worth it.

Edward refused to listen to them. It was like something had possessed him to do this.

Harry helped Ed draw the circle. He was better at the freehand than Edward.

"You don't have to do this Harry," said Al.

"Yes I do. You guys are the closest thing I have to a family," said Harry firmly.

He knew something bad was going to happen. That was why he was determined to help Ed and Al through it.

Ed poured the ingredients into the large dish. He had researched extensively the things that went into an adult human body. After Edward and Alphonse pricked their fingers and let the blood drop into the dish, they got into position. Harry was right between the two of them, and had a certain egg in his pocket.

The three of them put their hands on the circle, and began the transmutation. At first everything appeared to be fine.

And then it all went horribly wrong.

* * *

><p>Edward could vaguely hear a chirping sound in the back of his mind. But all he could see was this enormous gate before him. It wasn't that impressive really, but the mere fact that it was surrounded completely by a white field just made it stand out more.<p>

The gate creaked open, and Edward tried to run. Mysterious shadowy hands grabbed his arm and left leg. He could feel the pain of them being ripped from his body. His eyes were accosted by the images and sounds of Truth.

Everything that the world had experienced, would experience, and could experience flooded his mind. An entire planet's worth of knowledge exploded in his brain.

It was like he could see and hear everything and nothing.

Suddenly he was thrown out of the gate.

The chirping sound was louder now.

* * *

><p>Ed woke up in a pile of blood. On his chest was a tiny chick that looked like the sunrise...or the sunset. He couldn't tell which. He couldn't feel anything. He heard someone shouting his name.<p>

Harry's face came into view.

"Edward!"

"Har...ry?"

Ed looked to his arm...it felt like it was on fire.

He slowly lifted his head...and tried not to cry out in shock. His right arm was missing! And his left leg...it was gone from the knee down!

Alphonse was on his side, and he didn't have a right leg either. Only Harry seemed to have all his limbs.

"Did...did it work?"

Harry shook his head violently. He tried to prevent Edward from seeing the thing in the circle, but he was too late.

The thing that they had brought forth looked nothing like a human. There wasn't a face for starters...and the midsection was completely missing. The bottom half was little more than bones and a few tendons. The only thing that looked right was the hair and eyes.

Edward fainted.


	4. Repercussions

Nicholas was furious. When Pinako alerted him to the trouble, he went straight away to the house.

When he heard of the boy's injuries, his suspicion was confirmed. They had tried to bring someone back from the dead. If he knew Edward, then the boy had attempted to bring back his mother. But to drag his brothers into that mess!

His words of anger left his mind when he saw their state. It was obvious to him that Edward knew the gravity of what he had done. The only one who seemed to be intact was Harry, though how that was possible he had no idea.

His lightning scar was inflamed for some reason.

"Edward, can you hear me?"

Edward's golden eyes slowly turned to him. They seemed almost hollow.

Alphonse was in the other room. Harry knew that it was probably best if he was there when the boy woke up.

Before he left, he whispered to Nicholas _"We tried to stop him...but he couldn't listen."_

At first he didn't know what the boy meant. What did he mean, _couldn't_ listen?

Then it struck him. Was it possible something had possessed Edward to do this?

"Edward, tell me everything. Why did you attempt to cross the borders?"

"_I... I just wanted to see her smile again..."_

Nicholas firmly took the boy's attention. Something was off about Edward, and he didn't think it was the circle they had attempted. He had seen what they had drawn.

It was an all too familiar circle that he had believed to have been destroyed.

"Edward, listen to me. Where did you find that particular circle?"

His eyes blanked. A small spark came into them.

"_In the library...it was in the library at Hogwarts. Someone didn't put the book up properly, and when I saw the author's name, I had to take it."_

"Edward, that book should have been destroyed twenty years ago. And I seriously doubt someone would leave it in that library. If that was the case, it should have been in the Restricted Section at the very least."

"_It was between the animagi tomes and the higher level transfiguration books. I only found it because it snagged my hand."_

"Edward, I want you to listen to me. When did you first desire to cross the borders of life and death?"

Edward seemed to think. His eyes had slowly begun to return to normal.

"_It...it was back when Winry's parents were killed. That was around the time I found my father's books on death."_

Nicholas feared that was the case.

"Edward, I want you to rest for a while. When I come back, I'm going to try and help you, okay?" he said calmly.

The sound of a familiar voice seemed to soothe the boy. He fell asleep within minutes. Nicholas feared for his sanity. Something seemed to possess the child, and he feared the worst. So he set up wards that made it impossible for anything to come near him except Pinako.

* * *

><p>"Harry, Alphonse?"<p>

The two looked up. Unlike Edward, they had suffered minimal injuries. Though Alphonse would have to get a replacement leg, he seemed none the worse for wear.

"Is he going to be okay?" asked Al.

That settled some of his worries. Clearly nothing had changed in them.

"I'm not sure. I want you two to tell me everything you've noticed about Edward."

The two described as best they could what they saw. Edward, who became unusually driven to bring Tricia Elric back. He never listened to what the others were saying. He only gave short answers to questions about his favorite subject, which he used to explain more thoroughly. His almost blank eyes.

Nicholas brought out a strange bowl covered in glyphs.

"This...is a pensieve. I would like to view your memories of the transmutation, if I may."

"Will it help Ed?" asked Harry.

"I hope so. I think something is preying on his soul, but I can't be sure what."

* * *

><p>Once he played back the memory of the event, he came to two shocking realizations.<p>

One, that Harry had a horcrux in his curse scar, which was taken from him during the transmutation. It was the only reason he was still more or less intact.

And two, whatever was preying on Edward was still after him. And after seeing the thing that came out of the circle, he had a good idea _what._

"First things first. You three have to recover before I can do anything about Edward. Then we are all going to have a serious discussion about what you three did. At least tell me there is _one_ good thing that came out of this mess," said Nicholas.

Harry went cross-eyed for a moment, then he brightened up.

"Edward's phoenix egg had hatched right as everything went to hell in a hand-basket," said Harry.

"Well that is certainly unexpected. But it could prove fortunate."

* * *

><p>It took a full week before Edward could speak coherently. For some unexplainable reason, he felt the urge to get their normal bodies back. Before he could even think on acting on that urge, Nicholas did something very unexpected.<p>

He took a large paper fan and whocked the boy on the side of the head. It made a rather painful noise.

"You will do no such thing. Even if you managed to find the circle, which I doubt, I would have your hide for trying."

Edward's golden eyes lit up in fury.

Nicholas had the fan ready, should he say something else that was foolhardy. Right as Edward was about to speak, Harry tugged Nickolas' arm. He held out his hand, and Nickolas was happy to oblige.

"OW!"

Harry took the opportunity to whack Edward as hard as he could.

"Nice hit."

"Thanks. Perhaps now that his small brain has been rattled, he will listen to reason."

Nicholas beamed at the boy.

"Edward, you need to listen to me. You are being possessed by something rather unpleasant."

Pinako and Winry were listening in.

"What? Possessed?"

"Familial possession. A rather nasty case of it. Fortunately, there is a way to break it."

"Really?" said Alphonse.

"Alphonse, I will need your help with this I'm afraid. It won't be pleasant, but it should help Edward come back. And it can protect you both."

"What do we need to do?" asked Harry.

* * *

><p>Edward sat in the circle Nicholas and Harry had drawn. Alphonse had donated enough blood to do it. While in the circle, Edward would be unable to fight back. He would be completely exposed.<p>

Once the ceremony began, Alphonse stood on the outside of the circle. His still bleeding hand lent power to the blood magic. An unearthly cry began to wail, and everyone winced. Alphonse did not budge, but kept chanting exactly what Nicholas had told him.

A form began to emerge from behind Edward. It was a strange teenage boy with hair that went down in spikes. He had lines along his arms that ended in circles. His eyes were cruel. He appeared quite young, but he felt old.

Something snapped into place, and the boy was thrown out of the circle. The form vanished from their sight. A blood red symbol appeared behind Edward and Alphonse.

It looked like a snake and what appeared to be the Egyptian symbol for rebirth, which Edward had shown his brothers once. The snake coiled around the ankh and finally rested. It's head dangled from one edge while it's body was wrapped around the ankh. Above the ankh was a crown with wings sprouting from either side.

Alphonse received a different blood tattoo. (His tattoo is the same one on the inside of his armor.)

Once the tattoo settled on them, the circle flared once and vanished.

Edward blinked three times, then asked "What just happened?"

Harry and Alphonse tackled him. Their Edward was back!

"What happened is that we broke the familial spell on you. It seems your older brother wanted to use you for something rather dark," said Nicholas calmly.

The outburst from that was loud.

"_OLDER BROTHER?_"

Nicholas' smile was not a happy one.

"I suppose now is the best time to explain why Hohenhiem lost his apprenticeship..."

"I thought you said he dabbled in forbidden alchemy?" said Edward. He was feeling better than he had in days.

"He did. While I was willing to forgive his transgressions in concern to the stone, what he did _with_ the stone told me to stop him. He tried to bring his son back."

Two pairs of eyes stared at Ed in shock. Harry and Alphonse stayed very close to their brother.

"I'm not talking about Edward. I'm referring to his first son. Hohenhiem was so struck with grief that he tried to bypass the laws and bring his son back. But while he was spared, the boy wasn't. His son had become a homunculus...and it broke his mind."

"What was his name?" asked Edward.

"He never said. But after that I dropped him. It was during that time that he started practicing some really nasty alchemy..."

Nicholas told them the real reason why Tricia died. How the body that Hohenhiem had used began to decay from within, and it passed to her. How the disease that she received from the man proceed to rot her from the inside-out.

Edward's quickly grew enraged. He had always suspected it was his father's fault that his mother died.

"That bastard...he caused her death, and then he doesn't bother to even come to her funeral?"

"What about the other Elric?" asked Harry.

"Your father had some magic in him. That's mostly why there are so many alchemists who can do a proper transmutation. Alchemy comes from magic. Magic gains power from alchemy. Apparently Envy discovered that, and he used the ties of blood to possess Edward. He must have known the boy would try to bring someone back at some point."

Edward looked furious. He was angry about so many things. At his brother. At his father. But mostly at himself. How could he have missed the fact that he was being controlled! Why hadn't he notified Nicholas sooner!

* * *

><p>Pinako gave Nicholas some tea.<p>

"So what happens to them now?"

"They could go about their lives, trying to make up for what they did. They could continue on as alchemists or mages, but never fully understand either. Or they could atone for what they have done and regain their lives. What happens depends on what they do next. At the very least, Edward is safe from Envy's influence."

Upstairs, the three were having a tense discussion on what to do.

* * *

><p>"I still can't believe that our so called older brother did this to me," said Ed.<p>

"What are we going to do now?" asked Alphonse.

"What about that thing from the circle? What happened to it?"

The other two blanched.

"I have no idea where that thing went," said Edward. A tiny chirp made him look down. His new phoenix kept trying to flap it's non-existent wings so that it could sit on his shoulder. He grinned, and put it there. It seemed content to sleep on there.

"How much damage can something like that do? Aside from giving anyone who sees that thing a heart attack?" asked Harry.

Nicholas came up and heard them.

"A homunculus can do irreparable damage. And from what I have been told of this Ishbalan War, I believe that one may have been behind that."

Alphonse and Edward's faces became pale.

"They can do something like that?" said Edward horrified.

"Homunculi have the innate knowledge of alchemy. They can create endless fake Philosopher stones which can incite untold problems. Can you imagine the trouble someone would cause if a person walked up to them and told them that they could bypass any known law of alchemy? Become immortal and bring the dead back to life?"

Harry, Edward and Alphonse winced. It was bad enough that people with magic went dark and on killing sprees. Alchemy was just as bad. Either way, someone with a god complex with a stone couldn't be good news at all.

* * *

><p>The next morning, Nicholas found the boys having a serious discussion. To his amazement, none of the boys even considered leaving the monster they had unwittingly brought forth alone.<p>

"We brought that thing here, and I say we send it back," said Edward firmly.

"I agree. We made this mess, we may as well clean it up," answered Harry.

"But where do we start?" asked Alphonse.

They suddenly noticed Nicholas was standing there. He seemed to be in a better mood.

"Well this is a pleasant surprise."

"What?" snapped Edward. He didn't like the look that Nicholas had.

"When I first found out what your father had done, I told him the only way I was going to continue teaching him was if he destroyed what he had created. He never even gave me a chance."

"Our dad couldn't even own up to his mistake? Typical," snorted Edward.

"I must admit, I am very happy that you and your brothers are nothing like Hohenhiem."

Edward seemed to beam at him for that remark.

"I am here to offer you something."

"What?" the three chorused.

"I will teach you all I know about alchemy and magic. But in exchange, you must first destroy the homunculus that you three brought forth. How does that sound?"

The three looked at each other.

"We accept those terms."

Nicholas beamed at them. Somehow, he had the feeling the boys were worth saving.

* * *

><p>Since Edward and Alphonse couldn't very well return to Hogwarts without being able to walk, they made a rather painful decision. They would get automail.<p>

Fortunately, they had two expert mechanics who could create the limbs for them right in the house.

"We might not be able to do alchemy or use magic, but when it comes to creating artificial limbs, no one can beat our team work!" said Winry proudly.

Nicholas was fascinated with the auto mail. It was something he hadn't seen before, which was unusual.

He watched as Winry and Pinako attached the ports to Edward and Alphonse. Harry winced in sympathy for the two. He had gotten off relatively light.

* * *

><p>Three weeks later, Edward and Alphonse were up and walking. Though they were sore as hell.<p>

Edward's new phoenix, Chirp, had found it's preferred post on Edward's left shoulder.

It was a magnificent animal. It's wings looked remarkably like the sun at twilight. The blue of it's chest feathers resembled the sky at that time. But the most unusual aspect of the creature was it's eyes.

They were like liquid gold...the same color as Edward's. Each of Chirp's feathers looked like pure gems. But they blended so seamlessly that it was hard to tell where one color ended and another began.

She was quite the beautiful bird.

"She almost looks like a toucan," Harry commented.

"Or a parrot," said Nicholas with a grin.

Ed glared at them both. It was clear to him that Chirp was superior any common bird around. The two would often tag team against him, and would tease him mercilessly.

"That reminds me Harry...when is your birthday?" asked Winry.

"July thirty-first," said Harry without thinking.

That set off everyone within hearing.

"EH?"

Harry looked confused. Why were they making such a fuss?

"What's wrong?"

"You're turning twelve in four days, and you don't think that's exciting?" said Edward in shock.

"What's so exciting about it? All I do every year is count down the minutes to midnight and then go to sleep. It's not like anything fun happens," shrugged Harry.

Everyone stared at him in disbelief. Was he serious about that?

"Harry... have you ever celebrated your birthday?" asked Nicholas carefully.

"What is this birthday you speak of?" asked Harry sourly.

The staring got worse.

"Has no one celebrated it?" asked Winry in disbelief.

"My aunt and uncle were less than thrilled to even keep me in their house, let alone treat me like an actual human. It's a miracle that I'm as normal as I am," said Harry annoyed. He hated attention.

None of them could believe that someone would be that callous. Surely someone celebrated it with him.

"What about the other holidays?" asked Al confused.

Harry scowled even worse.

"Until I went to Hogwarts, I had to cook the holiday meals before being shut inside the broom cupboard. I wasn't allowed to celebrate any of it until last year with you guys."

That surprised them. Unknown to Harry, simply telling them the truth was probably not the best idea. He had no idea what he was in for. At all.

* * *

><p>Harry lay in the bed and counted down to midnight. He really wasn't expecting anything tomorrow. Once the bell downstairs struck twelve, he fell asleep.<p>

He didn't notice that Alphonse and Edward were wide awake, and had noticed his little ritual.

The two brothers grinned evilly. Tomorrow was going to be fun.


	5. Return to Hogwarts

Harry yawned as he woke up. Today was his birthday...hurray. He didn't even notice any of the frantic movements. He sat down at the breakfast table and ate some toast before going outside.

He really didn't expect anything interesting to happen. So he decided to have some fun and explore.

"Harry really wasn't kidding when he said that no one cared about it," said Ed in disbelief.

"I'm amazed that he didn't notice us putting up decorations," said Nicholas. Perenelle was helping Pinako bake the cake.

"He was up till midnight," said Alphonse, but he didn't think that was a decent excuse.

Winry had offered to keep Harry distracted until the party was ready. Den had already followed the boy into the woods.

* * *

><p>It took Winry two hours to find Harry asleep next to a tree. Den was sound asleep on his lap.<p>

She checked the time. It was almost time for the party!

An evil grin made it's way onto her face. In her right hand was the fan that Nicholas showed her how to make. While it was an effective weapon, only the sound made people think getting hit with it is painful.

Harry woke up with a start after Winry whocked him with the fan.

He took one look at the fan and sighed.

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to have _way_ too much fun with that thing?"

Winry beamed at him evilly.

* * *

><p>Once Harry walked into the house, he didn't realize that there was something off for a few minutes.<p>

Then he gaped in disbelief.

"SURPRISE!" said Edward and Alphonse.

Harry grinned. This was going to be the most fun he had ever had!

For the rest of the day, Harry finally got to be a normal twelve year old. While the presents he got weren't much, they made him happy. For once he got to feel like the kid he was.

So it wasn't until much later in the night that he noticed the bat earred creature on the beds. Alphonse had come in with him, and they both stared.

* * *

><p>"So a house elf has been stealing your mail?" asked Nicholas in disbelief.<p>

"Apparently. Though come to think of it, it is odd that none of us has gotten any mail all summer," said Harry.

"Well that could be because of the barrier, but I doubt that."

"Barrier?" asked the brothers in confusion.

Nicholas blinked.

"There is a very slim barrier that connects the world of magic to this world of alchemy. A long time ago, the worlds were connected together. Then the witch hunts began happening, and the worlds split apart. So now the only people who can get through the barrier are those with enough magic."

Seeing their confusion, Nicholas took them to where the barrier was currently at it's weakest. He stuck his hand through, and much to the shock of Pinako and Winry, it looked like his hand disappeared.

"Of course normal people can go through, so long as they are touching someone with magic," admitted Nicholas.

Winry walked up and he touched her arm. She gasped, as his hand reappeared. There was a vague ripple where it had vanished.

"Oh wow!"

"I suppose now would be the perfect time to get your supplies. Madam Pinako, would you mind terribly if we took Winry with us? I'm sure she would love to experience the magical communities."

"Have fun you lot. And bring back something we haven't seen before," said Pinako, waving them off.

Harry grinned. He knew _exactly_ what to get Winry and her grandmother. He was planning on getting his own anyway.

* * *

><p>Winry's eyes whipped back and forth as she saw all the technological advances. It made her inner mechanic salivate.<p>

Harry of course, had anticipated such a reaction.

Which was why he had the goblins give him the magical equivalent of a debit card. Once they got the required texts (and had made sure not to waste money on any of this Lockhart's books) Harry did something that had Nicholas smile.

He took Winry on a shopping spree. He would later regret it, as he walked out of the electronics store with enough tech to make his arms groan in pain. Edward and Alphonse were both drafted into helping him.

While Winry and her grandmother could now do some very advanced calculations which would make their automail adjustments easier, they could also learn more about the technology on the other side.

Harry had already bought an extra laptop for Winry to experiment with.

Nicholas smiled at the girl's enthusiasm. And at the generosity Harry had shown for a girl he barely knew. With the way Edward and Alphonse reacted to the girl, it was clear that the boys all had good hearts.

Which was why he had been so devastated to hear of their attempt. He had started to worry that they would follow the same path as their father, and fall into ruin.

His fears were clearly unfounded. Edward, while possessing his father's unique talent for the art, was nothing like him. They possessed looks and talent, but they were nothing alike.

Edward cared too much for life to fall for the same trap Hohenhiem had. And Alphonse would follow the boy's lead anywhere.

Harry was a blank slate who was desperate for positive attention. He possessed the skill needed to be a great alchemist, but he had yet to acquire the knack for it. And there was the fact that the boy had yet to realize his true potential.

Harry, unlike the Elrics, did not possess the talent for physical alchemy. It was clear the boy had yet to realize his true talent.

Harry was an Elemental Alchemist. He had more patience than Edward, who's primary skills lay in creating physical objects such as weapons. And he had more daring than Alphonse, who's skills lay in animating objects. His attempts at creating actual things like golems would be half-hazard at best. Then again, animating alchemists were very good at creating Chimeras.

Not that Nicholas would tell any of them that. He first had to see how serious the boys were about cleaning up their mess.

* * *

><p>Dobby was not happy. Even though the Great Harry Potter had listened to his warnings (and wasn't that angry over not getting his mail) he knew the boy would still attempt to go the school. And that was something Dobby would not let happen. The Great Harry Potter was too kind to be caught up in the tragedy that was about to occur!<p>

* * *

><p>Nicholas let the boys stay at his cottage, provided they didn't enter the library. He was rather strict about that.<p>

The three Elrics, as they considered themselves, agreed, and instead read their school books...or the alchemy books Edward and Harry had swiped from the other world before they left.

(Nicholas has discreetly looked them over before the boys left the house, and deemed them safe enough for them to study. Not that they knew that of course.)

Aside from the rather disconcerting problem of Ed and Al coughing up blood every night (which Pinako assured them was the result of adjusting to the automail too quickly), the rest of the summer passed by.

Since Nicholas and Perenelle didn't want to deal with the hustle and bustle of King's Cross, they took the boys to a little used terminal for the train. Unknown to the boys, the Hogwarts Express didn't just take off from the London station. That was just it's final stop before it headed to Hogwarts.

They got their things onto the train, surprised to be the first people on it.

The trolley witch smiled at them as she passed by their carriage.

"I'd take a nap if I were you dearies. It takes at least six hours before the train will start towards Hogwarts."

Since they had been up till four, they agreed it was a sound suggestion. Soon all three were snoozing, with Harry leaning against Alphonse on one side, and Edward having the other to himself.

It wasn't until Hermione dropped a book on Edward's head that they woke up.

"OW! What the hell was that for?" demanded Ed.

"You were snoring and you had your feet on the cushions," Hermione said with annoyance...then she realized something was off.

Edward and Alphonse were so used to people already knowing about their automail that they forgot to hide it. Their metal legs were showing.

"What happened to you two?" said Hermione in shock.

"We had...and accident. Ed lost his right arm and left leg, Al lost his right leg. They're able to move their new limbs just fine, but it would be great if you didn't draw too much attention to it," said Harry quickly.

"What sort of accident?" asked Hermione with suspicion.

"We practice an ancient and almost dead art of magic. One of our calculations was way off, and it blew up in our faces literally," said Edward in a tone that broke no more questions.

Hermione glared at them both.

"Hermione, could you please let it go?" asked Harry. He set his most potent weapon on her.

The dreaded 'lost puppy' look. Alphonse had used it on Edward once, and Harry had begged the boy to teach him the trick. (Which had left Edward cussing up a storm when he learned that not only had Harry mastered it, he had no issues using on _him._)

"What kind of prostheses are those? Even if I said nothing the teachers will notice it soon enough," said Hermione.

Edward and Alphonse grinned.

"Not likely," they chorused.

Edward proceeded to demonstrate the versatility of his new right arm. Hermione was baffled at how easily it simulated his old one. If she hadn't known better, she would have sworn it was flesh and bone!

"Wha...how?"

Edward grinned evilly.

"I think you should join us when we go home for Christmas hols. Winry would love talking to someone like you," said Ed.

Which had them describing their summer, with some parts very carefully edited out. They only loosely told her about the accident, and she reluctantly let it drop when it was obvious that _none _of them would talk about it.

That was when Chirp popped it's head out of Ed's pocket. Hermione's eyes were instantly drawn to the beautiful bird.

"Oh yeah. Hermione, meet Chirp."

She gave a girlish squeal of delight, and much to the younger boy's amusement, she kept asking questions about the bird. Ed was proud to boast about his beloved familiar, and was quick to tell her that the cat that slept in his dorm actually belonged to Alphonse.

* * *

><p>Ron was angry. The barrier refused to let him through!<p>

So in typical Gryffindor brashness, he stole his father's car and attempted to drive to the school.

* * *

><p>Alphonse was busy watching the scenery go by when he spotted it. He blinked, and then rubbed his eyes to insure that he wasn't asleep.<p>

"Brothers, I think there's a car driving along the train," said Alphonse carefully.

Edward, who had gotten into a rather long discussion with Hermione about magic and electricity, looked outside. And gaped.

Harry couldn't believe his eyes either.

"Isn't that Ron?" asked Harry.

"Not too sure, but it sure as hell looks like him."

"Want me to get Percy?" asked Harry.

Edward shook his head. He had a better idea.

"Get the twins."

Fred and George, who were initially surprised to be called by the Golden Gryffindor (which strangely enough was Ed's title in his house), saw the car and gaped in disbelief.

"I can't believe Ron was stupid enough to use the car," said Fred.

"I'm surprised he knew how to get it going," retorted George.

"So what should we do about this? With the way things are going, chances are Gryffindor is going to be the one in trouble. We need to do some damage control," said Ed, hooking a thumb at the sight.

The twins nodded. It was obvious that Ron would be caught, the only question was what to do about it.

* * *

><p>Ron was given two months detention. The only saving grace was that no points had been deducted.<p>

The next morning Edward confronted him in annoyance.

"I always knew you were an idiot, but I didn't expect you to be a fool as well. What the hell were you thinking?" said Edward.

Ron turned red with rage. He should have been glad that Ed had cornered him in their dorm room, instead of the common room.

"How dare you...!" started Ron.

Ed shut him up by giving him a black eye.

"Shut up. I am tired of having you drag this house into the mud. I am going to give you two options. Either you learn to quit acting like an idiot and make up for the stunt you pulled, or I drag your older brother Percy in here and make him your new study partner for the year. What's it going to be?"

"Like hell am I going to listen to you!"

"Oh, and if you act like a bigger idiot, then I am going to have Draco tutor you in potions. Starting with poisons in your food," said Ed with an evil glint.

Ron went to charge at Ed, only to find himself flat on his face. Ed had his left arm ready to punch the red head again.

Ron whimpered. He didn't like getting punched.

"Coward. How you ever got into this house is beyond me," snarled Ed.

"How bad did it go?" asked Harry.

"I'm going to have Percy and Draco tutor him. If only so we can bring the class average up. According to the twins, Ron just barely passed his classes last year, and he was in the same ranking as Crabbe and Goyle."

Fred and George seemed surprised.

"There are class rankings?"

Edward blinked.

"You didn't know? The heads of house have them posted on the board. You just have to move some of the ads out of the way."

"Most of those are outdated anyway," said Harry.

Fred and George both went to where Ed indicated, and sure enough there were self-updating lists of students and houses. The ranking depended on the year.

At the moment, Gryffindor was in second place with Ravenclaw. Though that was only because of Edward and Hermione. Further inspection revealed that Ron was at the very bottom of the student rankings. Crabbe and Goyle were at least two people above him.

The twins winced.

"Now you see why I am willing to have Draco tutor your brother."

"Yeah...we didn't know it was this bad," said George.

"We may have to inspire him to actually do the work."

Edward smirked.

"I will _assist_ you in hiding the evidence. If you want me to that is."

The twins had unholy grins on their faces.

"If we help you in getting the class ranking up, will you help us hide _ all _of our evidence?" they asked.

Edward grinned.

"Why not."

The two clapped their hands in glee. Ron felt a shiver go down his spine.

The four horsemen of the apocalypse were about to descend on Hogwarts.

* * *

><p>Edward was so not looking forward to Defense. Perenelle had a few Lockhart book in her study (which according to Nicholas were a bunch of crock) and Ed had flipped through them in curiosity.<p>

Only to carefully place them back and try not to gag. It was more like a rather droll traveling journal than a book about defense.

So it was with horror that he learned the man himself was teaching.

Five seconds into the test he had given him, and Edward turned the thing into a rather well made paper air plane. Harry, who had almost fallen asleep, saw what Ed did and copied him.

Much to his amusement, Harry's plane went farther...right on to Hermione's head. She whipped around and glared at them both. Her eyes were radiating fury.

The two winced, but did not look repentant in the least. It wasn't long before most of the boys in the class did the same to theirs.

(Which is why the only tests that were actually turned in were those done by the females. Alas, they barely made up a third of the class.)

Lockhart tsked at them. It was then that Edward realized the man was a complete idiot. Perhaps even more idiotic than Ron, which was rather...disturbing.

This was proven when the man released Cornish Pixies on the class, without even thinking of teaching them any charms to defend themselves with.

Edward and Hermione were quick to act, as they shouted in unison...

"_Immobulius!"_

The pixies were frozen...but before the man could escape into his personal room, Edward used the circle Harry drawn. The effect was immediate, as the man had his left leg captured. Edward had an evil smirk on his face as he dragged Hermione out of the classroom. Harry closed the door, but not before Edward canceled the spell that held the pixies in place.

Harry laughed at the look on the man's face. He was horrified.

* * *

><p>"EDWARD ELRIC, HOW COULD YOU?" shrieked Hermione.<p>

"He had it coming. A real teacher would have made a test that had us explain _how_ he did all that stuff, not how good he looks. The man is an out and out fraud. Besides, it's his fault for letting those damn things loose in the first place," said Ed.

Hermione was so furious at his stunt that she refused to talk to him for a month.

The boys of the school, once they learned what type of teacher Lockhart really was, simply cheered Ed on. (Much to his amusement, most of the teachers did too.)

Over the course of the next two months, Edward proceeded to thoroughly humiliate the fraud. And not once did he receive detention. The reason was simple really.

Lockhart had no idea what alchemy was, let alone what the odd doodling Edward and Harry drew on their tests he handed out.

(Snape, however, _did_ recognize it. But since Edward was mostly focusing on Lockhart, he didn't bother to give the brat detention.)

Nicholas, when he learned of the boy's trick, initially scolded them thoroughly for pranking a teacher and wasting their alchemic abilities like that.

At least, until he learned _who_ the teacher was. Then he started cheering them on.


	6. Death days and Snakes

Dobby was on a mission. He had to get the Great Harry Potter out of Hogwarts. He didn't want the boy to be caught up in the nightmare that was about to occur.

So when he spotted the bludgers being kept innocently in their box, he waited until the first Gryffindor game. And he jinxed one of them to follow only Harry's magical signature.

* * *

><p>Harry cursed. The bludger seemed to have it in for him. Then an idea struck him. If he couldn't get the bludger to leave him alone, he would simply have to take it out. After they had landed, Harry whispered to Edward his plan. Ed grinned evilly. His bat wasn't much use against the damn ball, because Harry had to be all over the field and not just in one spot.<p>

Harry took out the glove which he had done a rough draft of his new circle. It had caught his interest when he had seen it, and he was eager to test it out.

According to the book, flames should come out when he snapped his fingers. The materials to make the gloves had been hard to find.

Harry flew up higher than any of the other players. And far enough that it was unlikely anyone would get hit with the debris.

Once the bludger lined up with him, he snapped his fingers like Ed had shown him. A massive fire ball enveloped the ball, and the molten result rained from the air. Those in the Slytherin stands felt the residual heat.

Harry took his chance and went at full throttle after the snitch. He was so close, that when he almost had it, his broom suddenly did a nose dive. He flew through the air, but he still caught the snitch.

But not before his wrist was badly sprained from landing wrong. He winced.

Ed was at his side in heartbeat. Everyone was still in shock over the fireball and the sudden end of the game, so no one thought to stop Lockhart from heading down to the field to offer his _assistance_ in healing the wounded hand.

Edward was having none of that. If the man couldn't teach something as basic as defense, then there was no chance in hell he was qualified as a Healer.

Ed stood before his little brother, clearly preventing the man from coming close.

"Now now, I only came here to help young Harry!" said Lockhart cheerfully.

"Get lost. Any help from you would obviously be worse than no help at all!" Edward said coldly.

Lockhart attempted to brush the boy aside, only to see the sky fly above him without warning.

Suddenly he yelped, as Edward 'accidentally' broke his arm.

"Oops, meant do to a sleeper hold," said Ed. Though with the look on his face, there wasn't a soul alive who would believe it.

Ed helped his brother to the hospital wing. Madam Pomphrey, when she learned of what Edward had done, scowled...though she approved of the reasoning. Still, when Lockhart came in with a boneless arm, she shot the man an incredulous look.

"What idiot tried to fix this?" she shrieked.

Edward stared at the Defense teacher in disbelief. Surely he wasn't stupid enough to attempt to fix it himself?

(And the answer was 'Yes, yes he was that idiotic.')

Harry left the hospital wing with a small cast to prevent too much movement, and the stern reminder not to write anything for a week. His fellow housemates were at least sympathetic, because one lent Harry his quick-quotes quill. Harry spent the next two weeks using the odd item, while Lockhart had been forced to endure two very uncomfortable nights in the hospital wing regrowing bones.

(Madam Pomphrey had been so furious over his stupidity that she only gave him a half doze of Skelegrow. Which meant his bones regrew at half the rate.)

* * *

><p>Sir Nickolas was not happy. His death day was coming and knowing his luck the headless hunt would show up just to ruin it for him.<p>

So when he spotted Edward and Harry, he tricked them into coming.

Not that they were complaining about it. Ed dragged Alphonse and Neville with them.

They went down the stairs without complaint. Fortunately, Edward had thought ahead and had asked if Nick could provide food for the living. They were rather enjoying themselves, as Ed and Al both asked questions of the ghosts. It was a rather interesting party...until the Headless hunt interrupted Nick's speech.

Somehow, Edward knew they had done it on purpose. So he decided to get revenge for Nick, who had been rather kind towards them. He even helped Al whenever he was lost in the halls.

"What's so great about you guys anyway?" asked Ed loudly.

A hushed silence filled the room. Every ghost was staring at the rather annoyed blond.

"I mean, all you lot have going for you is that you're headless. You're not even that scary."

That started an uproar from the headless riders.

"Nick on the other hand, is clearly a better ghost than you lot. I mean, the most you bunch could claim is being a dulahan... But Nick here has the ability to surprise and startle."

"What does that mean?" asked the leader of the riders, irate. He didn't like how this _child_ insinuated that he wasn't scary.

"You mean people are supposed to be frightened of a headless ghost? I think it's much more startling to see someone with their head on their neck, only to discover it wasn't fully attached."

"Oh yeah, remember last year when Ron asked why he was called Nearly Headless Nick?" said Harry, remembering that little scene.

"Didn't several first years lose their appetites?" asked Al.

By the time Edward was done annoying the headless ghosts, Nick was a much happier spectre. Ed figured it was the least he could do.

For the next month, Harry could swear that he was hearing things. From the strange hissing sound in the pipes (he assumed there was a leak or something) to the sudden petrification of Mrs. Norris.

To top it all off, the three Elrics kept hearing whispers of someone who planned to kill people. They thought they were imagining it all.

Luckily for them, thanks to Nick's timely intervention, no one blamed them for being at the scene when the great hall let out. Not that they enjoyed listening to Lockhart's blathering about how he could have saved Mrs. Norris.

(Alphonse and Edward got on Filch's good side by telling the man to shut up. Since they genuinely _liked_ the ornery cat, Filch knew their sentiments about the situation wasn't mockery.)

* * *

><p>Still, Ed had a really bad feeling about the defense club. The two Gryffindors went, but when they saw <em>who<em> was teaching it, they growled.

"If he doesn't teach us anything worth while, I'm going to show the lions how to really fight," snarled Ed.

"And I'll help," growled Harry.

Neither of them had any respect for the blowhard.

Snape wasn't amused when Lockhart decided to use him for a demonstration. Still, when he caught sight of Edward, an evil idea formed in his head. So before the blowhard could cast a single spell, he used the disarming hex.

Edward and Harry were suitably impressed.

Lockhart attempted to rectify the situation by having Edward paired with Ron.

(And much to the horror of the red head, Edward did not make idle threats. He had been suffering under the tutelage of Percy _and_ Draco for month now.)

Ron had a cruel smile on his face. Edward had a bored one on his. He doubted that the boy would be able to do anything he couldn't already dodge.

So it was with great shock that Ron used a spell that was worthy of a Slytherin.

"_Serpensortia!"_

Ed blinked at the large king cobra. It looked rather annoyed at the whole situation.

"A snake, really?" said Ed, bored.

Something inside his make up clicked, as the snake kept hissing how it was going to bite someone. Edward didn't realize it at the time, but he said something back...in snake.

"_If you're wanting to bite someone, bite the moron who summoned you."_

The king cobra took this under advisement, as he went after Ron and not Ed. Harry snickered.

Snape, not feeling like listening to McGonagall's whining about her student being bitten by a snake (even though the fool had summoned it in the first place) sent it back to wherever he had summoned it.

But not before he took Edward aside. Harry followed without saying a word.

"Why did you use your parselmouth ability in front of everyone? Are you that idiotic?" he hissed at Edward.

"Parselmouth? All I did was tell that thing if he wanted to bite someone, then to bite the idiot who summoned him."

"I thought you called him a moron?" asked Harry.

"True. Either way, it would have been his own damn fault for bringing the thing out to begin with."

Snape stared at them both in disbelief.

"You two...can speak to snakes?"

"I set a python on my cousin once. And I used to talk to the garden snakes when I lived with my aunt," shrugged Harry.

"I usually had to tell snakes to leave my brother alone. Al can hear them, but they apparently can't understand him that well."

Snape pinched the bridge of his nose. It figured his year would be shot to hell because of them.

"So just to be clear, you and your brothers can speak to snakes."

They nodded.

"If you don't want to be branded dark, then please don't use it in front of others. People tend to have the wrong impression when they see someone speaking to snakes in public," Snape advised them.

They nodded...then Ed asked something that threw the cranky potionsmaster for a loop.

"Hey, could you teach us defense? You have to be a better teacher than the idiot."

Snape looked both shocked...and amused.

_'Meh, why not? At the very least it would encourage the brat not to pull that stunt from last year on me.'_

"I will teach you on one condition. Neither of you is to even _think _of pulling the same stunts that you have been on Lockhart on _me._"

Edward looked slightly nervous.

"Sorry about last year. I just didn't like the fact that you were bullying Harry for no reason."

Snape glared at him.

"Somehow, I always knew it was you who did it. Especially after Draco informed me that you were the son of Hohenhiem of Light."

"Compare me to that bastard and I will plot the most painful death you can imagine," growled Ed.

Snape wisely did not question that statement.

* * *

><p>Ron was furious. Not only did Edward somehow manage to send the snake after him, but <em>he<em> had been given yet another detention for bringing it out in the first place!

To top off his bad mood, Draco wasn't go to let something as simple as detention get him out of his potions lessons.

Much to his horror, Draco had been more than happy to...assist...Ron in his potions homework. Why you ask? It was simple really.

Ed told Draco he wouldn't give a rat's ass if Draco managed to poison Ron with something that gave him a rather unpleasant case of gout or something, provided the idiot red head actually got his homework grades up. Draco, upon learning that he had essentially been given free reign to make Ron _Weasly's _life a living hell for the year, had gleefully agreed to the terms.

(Lucius, when he learned of the agreement, had originally been outraged...until Snape pointed out that as long as Arthur and Molly didn't catch wind of what was really going on, Draco could torment a Weasly. Lucius then sent his son an apology followed by a letter full of...suggestions.)

Surprisingly enough, because of Edward's deal with Draco (unofficial leader of Slytherin), the number of hexes thrown in the halls was cut down to a bare minimum. Pomphrey's complaining about the matter had dropped completely.

Edward had done something no one else had dared to accomplish. He had united Slytherin and Gryffindor enough that they finally toned down their rivalry.

Sometimes Ed wondered how people would react if they knew he was related to Slytherin himself.

Now all he had to do was get whatever was petrifying students (and one cat) to stop.

* * *

><p>Hermione discovered something that bothered her. After reading <em>Amazing Beasts and Where to Find Them<em>, she believed she had the answer to what was plaguing the school. Now she just had to tell Lockhart so he could deal with it.

(Sadly, Hermione has yet to cop onto the fact that Lockhart is an errant fraud with good teeth. Despite Edward's repeated attempts to get her to listen to reason.)

She accidentally bumped into Alphonse and Neville, who were about to return a book. Suddenly, Alphonse stiffened.

"There's something there!" he hissed.

His warning almost came too late, as Hermione whipped out a mirror (that baffled the boys as to _why_ she had one, since out of any girl in the houses she was the least worried about appearances) and used it to see around the corner.

The three would later be found by a rather irate Madam Pince, who would shriek in horror and send them directly to the hospital wing. Needless to say the Quidditch match was canceled.

* * *

><p>Edward and Harry stared at the motionless form of their little brother and Ed's main rival for grades. They were in shock...but not so much so that Edward didn't noticed the small square of white in Hermione's hand.<p>

_What the hell was this girl researching?_

Upon reading the description of the page, Edward cursed. He couldn't believe she had figured out something so obvious before he had.

The thing that had been driving the three Elric brothers up the wall all year...was a basilisk. (AKA, a big ass snake who could kill with a glance.)

He felt like slapping himself.

"Harry, we may as well make use of this and take care of the problem."

"How? Everyone said that the monster will only listen to the 'heir of Slytherin'. Which despite popular belief I am not."

"I know. I am. Well, technically Al is too, but as oldest I could claim it."

"HUH?"

"According to Nicholas, my mother was a squib from the line of Slytherin. Last time we went to Gringotts I had them confirm it with a blood test. Turns out we actually have a vault that we didn't know about."

"So how rich does that make you?"

"Not very. Apparently the other half of the family pretty much squandered it before I was born. It only had a thousand or so galleons in there."

"Bah, we're brothers. My vault is your vault," shrugged Harry.

* * *

><p>Their luck apparently, was <em>not<em> in. Ginny, through some random stroke of phenomenally bad luck, had been in prolonged contact with an item that had given Edward a bad feeling. Before he could pursue his initial reaction to take it to Snape, or at worst McGonagall, one of Lockhart's dwarves had tackled him with a love poem that made him gag.

He had made it very clear to the girls that he didn't want a girlfriend. (Though he was aware of the ongoing bet that Hermione would end up dating him at the very least by fifth year.)

Alas, that had not stopped the rather large amount of love poems sent his way. Harry had equally bad luck on that, but had done something that had Ed cursing.

He ditched his surrogate brother to the dwarves, and took off running like mad. He made it all the way to the Quidditch stands where he stayed in the air all day.

(Alphonse, when he saw the trick, had fallen to the floor laughing.)

Ron had taken the opportunity given to him to piss off Edward. He used a simple point me charm to direct any dwarf with a note for Ed to his direction.

(Percy and Draco had been having some luck with improving Ron's grades. It wasn't much, but at the very least he was above Lavender...for now.)

Ed and Harry went to Myrtle's bathroom. Edward had befriended the poor girl because Alphonse had mentioned the rather bitchy ghost.

He made it a point to at least be polite when he spoke to her in the hopes she would pass on.

Which was how, through his many run ins with her, he learned how she died.

Armed with the knowledge of the monster, Edward easily guess that the Chamber had to be in Myrtle's bathroom.

Which, once he thought about it, made perfect sense. What kind of person would search a female's bathroom if they were a guy? And who would expect it to be there of all places?

"Hello Myrtle. Can you help us with something?"

"Sure Edward."

"Are there any sinks or the like that never work? I'm sure you must know of one, since you like to flood the halls."

Myrtle showed them the sink that had never worked, even when she was alive. Upon closer inspection, it was revealed that there was a tiny snake on the faucet.

Edward made sure to praise the girl for her memory. Myrtle beamed at the boy.

Edward tried and failed to get the thing to open for him. So Harry pushed him to the side and hissed _"Open."_

The row of sinks slide into the floor. The top went into the ceiling. When they got out of the way, they realized that the hole in the floor was much, much bigger than what they were used to.

So, without a word to each other, they jumped in at the same time. They didn't think a teacher would let them go in without giving them detention, and seriously doubted that any would even give them a chance to explain their theories.

And so, the two brothers found themselves in a tunnel that would lead them to the Chamber of Secrets.


	7. Heir of Slytherin

Edward and Harry slowly walked down the rather damp corridor. Simply being there made Ed itch. He knew he was going to have to do some serious maintenance to keep from rusting.

He wondered how Madam Pomphrey would deflect the nosy old man's questions about the metal limbs. Nicholas had sent her a warning ahead of time through Hedwig that the boys had suffered a mishap during summer.

And gave her detailed warning signs should anything happen to them.

She hadn't been happy, when Hermione had dragged Edward in from coughing up blood. He had thought that he had hidden himself enough.

(Neville had done the same when he saw Alphonse having the same problems.)

Madam Pomphrey had not been pleased. Especially when she learned that it was a side effect from adjusting to their new limbs too quickly. Still, she did decide to follow the same regiment that Nicholas had implemented once he got over his concern. It was a sound one, and she agreed there wasn't much else they could do.

So now, at least once a week Edward and Alphonse would sneak into the infirmary to take a blood replenishing potion and a muscle restorative. Aside from making sure they weren't straining the limbs too much (which would have caused them to cough up more blood than they were already), she sent them on their way. After she had informed their heads of house of the matter.

To say McGonagall and Sprout had been shocked would be an understatement.

Edward had taken care of the matter by telling them that it was an unavoidable accident, and there was no way to fix it. He only requested that they didn't inform Dumbledore unless the matter was life threatening.

* * *

><p>They stared at the snake skin.<p>

"That...is a big ass snake."

Edward snorted at the understatement of the century. The thing was over sixty feet long!

"What are we going to do with the thing when we find it? I mean, this poor snake has been left down here for centuries!"

Edward stared at his brother in disbelief. This thing had petrified several students, including their good friend and little brother, and he felt sorry for it?

"If we have no other choice, we'll have to kill it. Otherwise I'm open to suggestions."

They came in front of a large door. It looked ridiculous, to be blunt.

"Geez...this guy has a serious snake obsession."

"His house mascot is a snake. What the hell else did you expect?" asked Harry.

"Point."

"Care to try parseltongue again?"

"Not right now. Have at it."

"_Open."_

What greeted them had Edward sweatdropping in disbelief.

The entire entry way was lined with snakes...and it ended in a rather boring relief at the back. If he had to wager a guess, he would say it was Slytherin himself.

Ginny was out cold. There, lying by her side was the book which had given Edward dark vibes.

Standing over her was a wraith. Edward scowled.

Just once, he would like a peaceful year at this school. Was it too much to ask?

"I take care of the wraith and you take the snake?" suggested Harry.

"Sounds like a plan to me."

It didn't take long for Tom Riddle (or as Edward mused, his illegitimate cousin) to bring out the basilisk when he realized that neither of the boys gave a damn about his villain's speech. Honestly, what was with children these days if they didn't give an honest to goodness bad guy a chance to spell out his evil plan?

Edward waited patiently for the snake to come out. It took one taste of the air, and instead of attacking him, curled around him. It hissed in delight.

_'Well this is anticlimactic...'_ thought Ed with disbelief.

"_Finally! A true heir!"_ hissed the snake.

Tom stared at Edward angrily.

"Squib or no, my mother was a descendant of Slytherin. So whether or not you like it, Tommy boy, I am the better heir," sneered Edward.

Tom did not like this new information in the least. To make matters worse, while Tom could claim the title, Edward was a pure blood and Tom wasn't.

Edward had learned through the goblins that the other heir had been a half blood. And while he had no issue with people of mixed blood, Tom did.

Edward looked at the snake without looking in it's eyes.

"_Can you bite that damn book? It's annoying."_

"_As the heir requests."_

Harry tossed the book with amusement, and the basilisk bit it in half. Ink and blood spurted everywhere.

"_So do you have a name?"_

The basilisk hissed in pleasure.

"_Rain."_

"_Well Rain, do you want to come with us? So long as you don't attack any students, we'll take you home with us."_

Rain apparently had an ability that no one had known about, because it shrank until it resembled a regular snake. It's eyes had sealed themselves off, which meant that the crow of a dawn caller wouldn't kill it.

Edward shrugged at the oddity, and let Rain wrap itself around his waist. It curled into a small belt and fell asleep.

Ginny woke up with a start. Harry and Edward were staring at her in concern. She hadn't had much to do with the boys after seeing how they dealt with Ron.

She was quite relieved to find out that they were actually really nice.

"Come on Ginny, let's get out of here."

"How? That thing was a slide!" asked Harry.

Edward grinned.

He whistled sharply, and out of nowhere Chirp flew to his shoulder. Ginny stared in appreciation of the bird. Edward carefully grabbed Chirp's tail, while Harry held onto both Ginny and Edward.

With a flash, the three of them were gone.

* * *

><p>Harry closed up the Chamber with a hiss, and the three went to see McGonagall.<p>

Unfortunately, they ran into Lockhart instead.

"Well now boys, I think its time we had ourselves a little chat, wouldn't you?"

Edward took one look at the glint in the man's eyes, before he decked him. Lockhart was out like a light.

Ginny gasped in disbelief. How could Edward do that to a teacher?

Harry did the only kind thing he could by levitating the man out of the hall and with them to the infirmary.

"And what exactly happened to you three?"

"We found Ginny lost in an unused part of the castle. Lockhart decided to be an idiot, so I punched him. I think he was going to do something illegal to us before I did though," said Edward sincerely.

Ginny looked at him gratefully. She didn't want to listen to her mother coddle her like a baby again.

The teachers were relieved enough that Ginny had been found, though they did question her as to where she had gotten lost.

Edward maintained his part of the lie, and then asked Snape to bring in the veritaserum to use on Lockhart.

By the time they left the infirmary, Lockhart was in major trouble. He was fired and they threatened to cut his unmentionables off for planning to use a memory charm on a student for personal gain.

Needless to say, Lockhart was never seen or heard from in Hogwarts again. Stories ran rampant that Lockhart had planned to use the boys to sell another book of lies, and in the middle of the night most of his books had been burned.

Dumbledore had returned, and upon his announcement that all school exams were canceled, everyone (except Hermione) cheered.

* * *

><p>Harry was called into Dumbledore's office. Probably to discuss what really happened in the Chamber.<p>

Didn't miss a trick, that man.

Dumbledore had the same look in his eyes that Lockhart had that day in the hall. Before he could raise his wand, Chirp appeared, most likely at Edward's request. Fawkes, startled by the appearance of another phoenix (and a female at that) gave a warble of hello.

Chirp, eager to speak to another of her kind, accidentally knocked the Hat off it's spot.

Harry dove as the spell flew over him. His hand landed somewhere in the hat. Something long, hard and metal came into his grasp. He didn't think about what he did next, he grabbed Chirp's tail and vanished in another ball of fire.

* * *

><p>Edward stared from his bed. Everyone else was doing last minute packing, or was busy with their friends before the train left. He was waiting for Harry.<p>

"What happened?"

"Dumbledore tried to cast a spell on me! If Chirp hadn't shown up...!"

Then Edward's eyes fell to the thing in Harry's hand. He had unconsciously grabbed it.

"Is that...a sword?"

Harry read the inscription on the blade.

"Godric...Gryffindor. You don't think...?"

"We have the weirdest luck."

"Think Nicholas would be interested?"

"Why not? If anything else it would give him an excuse to teach you something new, and you know he loves that."

After the little...mishap...with the human transmutation, Nicholas and Perenelle had refused to teach them anything about magic/alchemy. That being said, it hadn't stopped them from expanding the boy's horizons in other ways. Harry could now properly create a French meal, Alphonse could create things out of clay by hand, and Edward had progressed in his study of language.

While Pinako was their grandmother figure, Nicholas and Perenelle had become their surrogate aunt and uncle.

* * *

><p>Alphonse was smiling. He remembered fondly how much his head of house and the school nurse had laughed over the fact that he had tackled his brothers in a hug.<p>

Neville ended up being embarrassed by his rather frightening grandmother, who looked at the three in appreciation.

Apparently she had left the hospital wing with a favorable impression of Edward and Harry.

Though now he was eager to see Pinako and Winry again. Hermione and Winry had gotten off well during the Christmas holiday (after receiving permission from her parents of course.)

Of course in Edward's mind, the two girls hit it off far too well. He wouldn't be surprised if Hermione became an automail mechanic in her own right with the way she kept borrowing Hedwig to send Winry letters.

Ron had developed a fierce hatred of the Elric brothers, particularly Edward.

Despite the fact that thanks to Edward forcing him to study with Percy and Draco, his grades had improved to the point that he wasn't considered that much of an idiot, he still hated him with a passion.

Molly Weasly, on the other hand, couldn't have been happier about the studying. In her mind, the Golden Gryffindor was helping her youngest son achieve his potential...even if he did have an unorthodox way of doing it.

Hermione, while happy to no longer be petrified, had decided to wait before she cornered the brothers.

Hermione locked the door, effectively cutting off all escape for the Elric trio. Edward winced. He had figured this would be coming, but he still didn't like it.

"Alright Edward and Harry, what's this nonsense story about Ginny being lost in the unused portion of the castle and you happened to find her?"

"Well it was easier to lie about it then to say that someone took possession of her body and forced her to release an eighty foot snake on people wasn't it? Besides, this way she didn't get into too much trouble."

"And _how_ did you deal with the serpent?"

Edward winced.

"Actually, we didn't. The thing took one sniff of my magical aura and turned into a tamed pet."

Hermione raised an eyebrow in disbelief. Edward carefully put his hands over his belt, which to her shock, slithered into his hand. The snake looked at them all and hissed with amusement.

"Where...did you find a snake?"

"Hermione, meet Rain. Rain, meet Hermione Granger."

"_She is one of the impure ones master. Shall I eat her?"_

Edward gave Rain a sharp look.

"_Unlike Salazar and Tom, I do not care for mindless killing based on their so called blood purity. So no. Besides, she's the only female in that school who can keep up with me."_

"_Very well...I shall leave your... friend... alone."_

Hermione looked at Edward sharply.

"You speak parseltongue?"

"Hermione, all three of us can. It's not exactly a dark ability, just rare," said Alphonse.

Hermione sat next to Edward.

"I suppose if you have it Al, then it can't be that dark."

"Oi! What about us?" said Harry.

She gave them a look.

"You two are borderline insane, so excuse me for finding it an ill omen that you can speak with what many consider a dark ability."

"Oh ha ha. You wound me Hermione, you really do," said Edward dryly.

Harry had an evil idea.

"Remind me to show you how to make one of those fans that Nicholas likes to use on us..."

"Don't you dare Harry," said Ed.

Hermione's eyes glinted.

"Oh don't worry Edward...Winry _already_ did."

Edward groaned in horror...and Rain started doing a rather creepy snake laugh. She liked her new master...he was funny!

* * *

><p>Nicholas raised a single eye when he saw the sword...and both shot up when he saw Rain.<p>

"You went and brought back a true basilisk?" Perenelle nearly shrieked.

"Not just any basilisk. This is the so called monster inside the Chamber of Secrets. Nicholas meet Rain."

Rain did a slight bow, which improved Nicholas' mood.

"And the sword?"

"Dumbledore called me into his office, Chirp surprised him and accidentally knocked over the hat, and when I ducked, I found this in my hand. Chirp took me out before I could see what it was."

"You two have the strangest luck. So what exactly do you have planned for this summer?" said Nicholas.

"Actually, we were hoping to have our own road trip."

"Road trip? You do realize that even in your own world you aren't old enough to drive a car."

"Yeah, but that doesn't mean that we can't take the trains. They don't exactly question kids if they're riding alone, so long as they have the money."

The two seemed to doubt that.

"At least back home they don't care," Edward amended.

"And what prompted this?"

"There aren't going to be many clues in Resembool about the homunculus. I figured there might be more info at Central."

Nicholas didn't seem to believe that they knew what they were doing, but trusted them to learn from their own mistakes. That night had changed them, and only time would tell if it was for good or ill.

Besides, how much trouble could they cause that their new familiar couldn't handle? There was very little which could harm a basilisk.

"Fine, but only if I am allowed to collect samples from Rain before you go."

Edward looked at the serpent, who seemed amused by the request.

"_I will allow the ancient one to collect my venom without harm."_

Once Nicholas had his venom (and enough phoenix tears to counter act it just in case), he allowed the boys to travel.

Though he did keep the sword of Gryffindor in a vault, far from prying eyes.

* * *

><p>Edward and his brothers enjoyed the peace and quiet of the train. Much to his amusement, Edward had managed to convince Lucius Malfoy into trading five hundred galleons for Dobby.<p>

The man had remarked in the silent hall that Edward would have made a splendid Slytherin...to which Edward had replied with a smirk...

"I _am_ a Slytherin. My mother was a squib from that line who married Hohenhiem of Light, who I assume is a pure blood."

The sheer look of shock on his face had been priceless. More so when Draco told Edward that he was finally allowed to befriend them.

(Lucius hadn't wanted them to associate with commoners, especially if they were from Gryffindor. He didn't care _how _famous Edward's father was. An heir of Slytherin, on the other hand, was considered royalty in the pure blood world.)

Edward and Harry were sound asleep, while Alphonse was reading a book on ceramics. He was about to stretch when something strange happened.

Someone took over the train. Rather violently too. Edward didn't bother to wake up until one of the terrorist pulled a gun on him and commented on his height.

Which woke him up in a split second. Much to his ire, it seemed that Edward was in fact the second shortest boy in his year. Harry was the first.

Ron, who had hated Edward with a passion since Percy and Draco took to helping him with his homework, had made it a point to tease him about it at every opportunity.

Which is probably why he was a common sight in the Hospital Wing for a bruise. Madam Pomphrey had done the only thing she could think of and just gave him a large jar of bruise balm.

"Who the bloody hell are you calling short?" snarled Ed.

There was a reason very few people dared to comment on the blond's height. Trying to get under his skin in that way tended to land you in the hospital wing for a month at the very least. It was the main reason the Slytherins never even considered trying to torment the Elric brothers.

(It also meant that no one in Slytherin dared to harm Alphonse, because it would bring all of the lions and badgers against them. Alphonse was rather popular in his house.)

Edward stood up in fury.

"Who the hell are you calling short?" he snarled again.

The terrorist smirked, confident that he could handle a child.

At least, until Edward punched him so hard that he passed out. The other man went to deal with him only to find Harry at his throat with a rather sharp knife.

(Unseen in the confusion he had used alchemy to make it.)

"I suggest you put the gun down before I sever your jugular artery. It would be rather rude to make such a mess for others to clean up later, wouldn't you agree?" said Harry in a tone that brooked no nonsense. The man slowly lowered his gun, which Alphonse threw out the window.

The other passengers weren't so happy about their rather calm way of disabling the terrorists.

Edward and Harry sighed. It was going to be a very long day.


	8. Trains and Flames

Edward and Harry made their way to the top of the train while Alphonse worked with the rather odd military folk who happened to be on it.

Which was how they learned the only reason that the train had been attacked was because some big wig from Central command happened to be on it today.

Edward had cursed up a blue streak about their bad luck.

Luckily the boys were very used to the wind variations. Both had their brooms out. If nothing else they could fly alongside the train. It wasn't going _that_ fast.

Apparently the terrorists below heard the clunk of his foot, because they suddenly started shooting at him.

"I hate these guys," growled Ed.

"Should we unleash Rain on them or not?" asked Harry.

"We have no idea if there are hostages, and I don't want to risk it...we'll keep that as plan B."

"Hmm... What about that charm you read? The Patronus?"

Edward grinned.

"Startling and evil. I love it."

Edward had found a very advanced charm that appeared very useful as a distraction. It was called the Patronus charm, and it's main use was as a barrier between certain dark creatures such as dementors or lethifolds.

Frankly Edward had learned it solely to distract anyone with a gun. Harry had learned it because he had the nasty feeling that it would come in handy sooner rather than later.

The two whipped out their wands with a smirk and said in unison _"Expecto Patronum!"_

While Ed's patronus was little more than a vague animal shape, Harry's was much more solid. Ed had a large lion with wings, Harry had a stag that seemed so familiar to him.

Since they didn't want the men to start shooting at everyone, they got up and carefully walked on the train top again.

Edward nearly fell when a tree branch knocked him off. Luckily another military officer caught him before he went too far.

"Not bad for a pair of kids."

"Thanks for the save," said Harry.

The three made their way to the front of the train. It took less than five minutes to take care of the idiots in front.

Harry on the other hand went to the coal car and looked over it carefully. An evil grin made it's way onto his face as he dodged a few bullets sent his way.

"Hey Ed, where did I put the glove with the ice circle on it?"

Ed seemed to think for a moment before he replied, "Third pocket from the top, I think...wait a minute, are you...?"

"Time to test it out."

"Try not to hit the wheels. We don't need the damn thing to crash on us."

Harry smirked. He wasn't that bad. He took out his broom, and turned it to full sized.

It kept up with ease. Soon he was at a window and fully enjoying the disbelieving looks of the terrorists.

Four snaps later, and they were all encased in an icy prison. His control over the element was very impressive indeed.

* * *

><p>Roy Mustang was a man of many things, but a fool was not one of them. So when the general (poor idiot has his ear almost shot off by a terrorist) praises a trio of boys, he knew he should do damage control.<p>

At least, that was what he thought until he saw what the boys looked like.

All of them were young, at least twelve if he had to wager a guess. And short. The smallest had hair as black as his own with bright emerald green eyes and a wary glance. This was the boy who had managed to subdue the terrorists inside the car with the general using ice. His manipulation of the element without a circle (reports said he was _flying_ alongside the train, which he refused to believe) was almost at a prodigy level.

The oldest, who reminded him painfully of an old colleague, had taken out at least five terrorists on his own, with minimal help from Maes Hughes. The youngest had gone through each carriage and helped the other officers when they found someone injured.

All in all, he knew he was going to have trouble keeping this bit down.

A trio of boys had done what the military couldn't. Yet another drop of their already stellar reputation.

Edward spotted the Colonel, as he could tell from the bars. On of his books had a rather interesting side note which explained the military ranking system, and what they looked like.

He didn't even raise an eyebrow when the man congratulated him. Though he was surprised when the colonel dropped the bombshell that if any of them were interested, they could take the State Alchemist test early.

Apparently the military thought that such skill and deftness at handling a situation was deserving of a reward. And since all three were alchemists, they believed it would catch their interest.

Frankly Edward wasn't the least bit interested, and neither were his brothers. At least, not at the moment anyway.

* * *

><p>Edward looked up from his book. It was a bunch of myths and legends that surrounded the Philosopher's stone, which he didn't really feel like dealing with. Sure it could amplify alchemy to bypass the laws, but if he were really that desperate he would wait until he found the homunculus they had unleashed and borrow Nicholas' copy.<p>

Then he spotted a small side note, and his interest became peaked.

Rumors would always circulate about humanoid beings around the stone, always there to bring disaster. These beings were immortal, and almost impossible to kill. They had strange and deadly abilities.

Most of the descriptions fit with what little Nicholas had told them of homunculi.

Was it possible that wherever a true stone was found, they would be too?

"_Hey Nicholas,_

_Our summer has gotten off to a rocky start. We had to deal with some terrorists on the train to Central. About the only injuries there was the target who almost had his ear shot off._

_Because we played a key role in taking them out, the guys in charge told us if we were ever interested we could take their alchemy exam early._

_Frankly though, none of us are in the mood to deal with the military right now._

_I remembered that you mentioned something about Homunculus being drawn to the stone like flies. So Harry and Al are going to help me look for one on our side. At least until school starts again._

_And before you say anything, we aren't going to use it. But there are numerous legends about the homunculi and the stones, so there might be a connection there. I figure if we can find one they would come to us._

_Hope to see you soon,_

_Ed."_

* * *

><p>Nicholas cursed up a blue streak when he read the letter. While he was correct in his assumption that having a stone would draw their attention, he didn't believe the boys could handle a fight with them just yet.<p>

He tried to calm himself. The chances that the boys would find a stone were relatively slim to none, since fools who got their hands on a fake tended to overuse them rather quickly.

As it was, he had Chirp stay around so he could pen a letter to the boys. Hopefully they would err on the side of caution.

* * *

><p>Ed read the letter (and noticed Nicholas' concern) and waited until he had actual news to talk about.<p>

Which didn't happen until Harry happened to overhear a series of gruesome deaths.

"So basically there's some guy exploding heads for no reason?"

"And all the deaths have been limited to the military, specifically alchemists. A few normal soldiers were killed, but it was mostly because they got in the way."

"Huh. Good thing we didn't take the alchemy exam right away. So what happened when you ran into Hughes again?"

"The man apparently found out that we were traveling alone, and offered to let us crash at his house until we went back to school," said Harry.

Edward didn't really like the hotel they were staying at. His assumption that no one would notice three thirteen year olds traveling alone had been more or less correct. It was the destination that proved to be a problem.

So in a unanimous vote, the three took Hughes up on his offer.

Ed was carrying their bags, since they left their school trunks with Nicholas. Harry was keeping an eye out while Al enjoyed the sights.

It wasn't until they heard someone running that they realized something was wrong.

The man running had dark skin, and was wearing sunglasses. His arm appeared to have alchemic runes grafted on it. And the military was chasing him for some reason.

Ed had no love for the military. So when the Military Police ran past him, he had Harry trip them up using his elemental alchemy.

The man glanced back and saw the strange hole that had appeared, and wondered which boy had done it.

At the moment, he was just glad none of them were part of the State Alchemists.

Harry bunked with Ed while Al stole the couch. Marcia Hughes had been surprised that three twelve year olds believed they could handle traveling alone without any adults.

Finding out they were all alchemists didn't change her opinion of the matter.

* * *

><p>The next morning Hughes decided to take them all on a tour of the Military base. They were given visitors passes and told not to break anything.<p>

Ed and Harry grinned when they heard how Hughes greeted the Colonel they had run into at the train depot.

"Yo, Roy!"

Roy Mustang became annoyed. The only thing preventing him from hitting the man with fire was the fact that he was a higher rank than he was.

Well, that and years of friendship.

"I brought ya some visitors!" grinned Hughes.

Roy looked past him to see the same three brats who took care of the train incident last week. He scowled... they were wearing visitor passes, which meant he couldn't throw them out.

"Come to apply for the Exam?" he asked lightly.

The darker haired one...who could have passed for his own son from behind, gave him a look.

"Considering the fact that I've heard hundreds of rumors about someone killing off State Alchemists by blowing their heads inside out, don't count on it."

Risa walked in with more paperwork...mostly complaints from Central. Roy found the ones that mattered, then proceeded to turn the rest into paper air planes, to the amusement of the boys.

Then the black haired kid did something he didn't anticipate.

He set one of the planes on fire with a snap.

Everyone nearby stared. For a minute they thought it was the Colonel doing the burning. Then the kid did it again, this time turning the plane into an ice cube.

Finally Roy spoke, surprise clear in his voice.

"You...can throw flames by snapping your fingers?" he asked.

The kid shrugged.

"The hardest part was finding the right kind of gloves to use."

Everyone stared at him. Not only did he _look_ like the Colonel's son (which Roy was very, very sure he didn't have), but he used the same type of alchemy as well!

"Uh Roy, is there something you haven't told me?" asked Hughes, breaking the ice.

"What's your name kid?"

"Harry. Harry Potter-Elric."

Something about the kid seemed familiar. Then it clicked.

Potter was the last name of his great-great Uncle. The one who had vanished when he was forty and never heard from again.

Roy felt like slapping himself.

No wonder the brat was so much like him.

After that Hughes took them out to lunch, while Roy tried to find out if the kid really was his second cousin.

* * *

><p>Harry looked at the library Hughes had shown them. The only thing keeping them from diving in was the fact that they would need a State Alchemist's watch.<p>

So they promised Hughes that they would return to the base in two hours, and went to the nearest bookshop.

They spent quite a bit of money buying alchemy books (and Harry placed weightless charms on all of it while Al threw the books into the expandable bag Nicholas had given him before they left). By the time they returned, they found the base a hive of activity.

The State Alchemist killer had struck again.

Roy was highly annoyed by the rumors that Harry was his son. He was barely 29 for crying out loud, and the kid was almost 13! He wasn't that much of a playboy!

Risa, on the other hand, found it very amusing.

"Really sir, what did you expect? You go on dates more often than the men do," she told him, highly amused.

"I'm not that old, dammit!"

Just to prove the kid wasn't his, he had Hughes ask Harry where his parents were. And winced when Maes informed him that Harry's biological parents had been dead since he was a year and a half old, killed by a mass murderer.

After that, the rumors still wouldn't die down. So Roy challenged Harry to a contest. Whoever won would be the best at fire elemental alchemy.

There was only one catch. They were only allowed to use flames.

* * *

><p>Harry, amused by the challenge (and the fact that everyone seemed to be under the impression Roy Mustang was his father) agreed.<p>

Roy stood waiting for Harry to arrive. Ed was so amused by the colonel's actions that he was going to sit on the sidelines and cheer his brother on.

He couldn't wait for Harry to mix his magic with alchemy and give Roy a real scare.

Harry waited patiently, before he took off running. Roy fully expected the boy to use flames roughly the same way he did.

So when a wolf made entirely of fire ran at him, he was taken aback. Even more so when the wolf _shot_ flames at him.

"What the hell?"

Harry grinned.

"You said only flames were allowed. You said nothing about molding the fire!" Harry cheerfully told him.

Roy and everyone there gaped. This kid was able to mold fire? Even the Flame Alchemist couldn't do that!

Harry snapped again, and this time a dragon appeared. It was massive!

Edward was smirking the entire time, and when Harry was quickly determined the winner, he was there to catch his brother from passing out.

Roy stared at Harry in disbelief. This kid was able to mold his fire and could bring out actual beasts to shoot flames, and he only passed out _after_ being declared winner?

He was really, really glad this kid wasn't joining the State Alchemists. He would be a total _pain_ to show up.

* * *

><p>Edward shot his brother an amused smirk when Harry groaned as he awoke.<p>

"Ow...why does my head feel like crap?"

"Long story short, you way overdid it with the molding. When did you learn to use magic to mold your alchemy?"

"Saw it in a book, and I've been practicing using water. That was the first time I did that with fire."

"You should have seen the look on Mustang's face when that dragon came out. It was priceless!"

Harry looked at Ed, amused.

"You took pictures I hope?"

Ed held up the wizarding camera he got last Christmas. Harry grinned.

The Fuhrer took an interest in Harry, if only because he showed up Mustang so easily. They had never encountered someone who could mold flame produced by alchemy before.

Now they were really interested in having the boys join the State Alchemists.

There was only one problem.

All three boys had left two weeks ago to a private school they couldn't find. It was like they had vanished into thin air!

* * *

><p>Ed couldn't wait to get to Central. After they visited there, they would head back to the portal.<p>

Maes Hughes wasn't home when they left. No one bothered them in the least.

They didn't realize until they were halfway to the station that they were being followed.

Ed and his brothers ducked into an alley, and immediately the man followed them.

It was the man they had helped escape from the Military a few weeks ago.

"Why did you help me?" he asked.

"For the same reason we turned down their offer to take the state exam early. We don't trust the military," said Harry.

His eyes went up at that.

"Besides, after my friend's parents were killed in the Ishbalan war, I see no real merit to becoming a state alchemist. I will not be a dog to some bastard who keeps causing problems for peaceful nations," said Ed. Al nodded in agreement.

Harry noticed something that his brothers didn't. He was at the right angle to see the man's eye color.

"Why are your eyes red?" he asked.

He flinched. And took off his glasses.

"What's your name anyway pal?"

"I...have long since forgotten my name, but the people tracking me call me Scar."

"I'm Ed, this is Al and Harry. We're the Elric brothers."

"Thank you for helping me the other day. Though if the military catches you, you will be in serious trouble."

Harry snorted.

"What else is new?"


	9. Animagi pranks

Harry and the others returned to Nicholas two weeks later. He had gotten word that the boys had inadvertently helped a mass killer. One who only targeted alchemists.

So naturally he wanted answers.

Harry took the man's mind off the matter by telling him of the little contest with a well known elemental alchemy user named Roy Mustang.

Someone who had a very strong resemblance to Harry himself. They were so alike that people kept mistaking them for father and son.

Nicholas had Harry demonstrate the ability he had been working on, before he took the boy for an inheritance test.

And found the shock of a lifetime.

Roy Mustang...was his second cousin on his father's side.

"I don't believe it..." said Harry.

"What?"

"Remember that blowhard everyone thought was my father?"

"Yeah?"

"He's my cousin."

"What?!"

Harry showed Ed the scroll. There, in ink written from his own donated blood, was a complete family tree. Three branches down, was a side that had a name that was very familiar to the brothers.

_Roy Mustang._

Harry's great-great grandfather had come through the other side and married another woman and had children.

The goblins had been looking for that missing link for years.

"By the way...what's with all the posters?" asked Al.

"Hmm? Oh, someone finally managed to escape Azkaban and everyone is acting like it's the end of the world," said Perenelle.

"Azkaban?" asked Al.

"Europe's best wizarding prison. Guarded by the most foul beasts imaginable, and yet the English claim it is escape proof because of the beasts," snorted Nicholas.

"What beasts?" asked Ed, though he had a feeling he already knew.

"Dementors. Nasty bastards..." shuddered Nicholas.

"Dementors?" repeated Ed.

"Isn't that what the Patronus charm was made to keep away?" said Harry.

Nicholas and Perenelle shot them both a look.

"How do you know about that charm?" he asked.

"I found it by accident. It sounded like a good distraction technique. Harry can produce a stag," said Ed.

"You two are going to show me how well you can cast that spell back at Pinako's. If what I heard from my friends is true, then the Ministry is going to send dementors to the school for 'protection'."

"_Expecto Patronum!"_ cried Ed and Harry.

Ed's winged lion was a bit more solid now, though Harry's stag was almost corporeal. In fact, all the boy needed was more practice with the charm.

Nicholas shot the boys an amazed look. Most wizards three times their age could barely pull off a silver mist for a patronus. Yet these two not only managed to bring out a patronus, but they were almost fully formed!

His resolve against teaching them magic was waning. With children as smart as Harry and Ed were, they were likely to get mixed up with the wrong sort of magic and kill themselves. If the Ministry didn't catch them at it first.

Out of the three, the only one he knew he could trust to do the right thing was Alphonse. Alphonse had asked Perenelle repeatedly for help with his potions homework. He turned out to be a budding potionsmaster.

Perenelle had been teaching him for a few months how to make his potions more effective, and had even started him on small healing magic when the boy expressed an interest.

But it was a simple question that really set the mood for the year.

* * *

><p>"Nicholas, who is this Sirius Black, and why was everyone at Diagon giving me those weird looks?" asked Harry.<p>

Nicholas paused.

"Sirius Black...is your godfather. He supposedly gave up the Potter's location to (here his face became highly amused, if only because of the name the Elric trio had come up with) the Dark Lord Fuzzyboots. Then he proceeded to kill one of his other friends, a Peter Pettigrew and twelve mundanes. He was laughing like a madman when they caught him."

Harry's eyes darkened in confusion.

"How do they know it was his fault Fuzzyboots found my parents? I mean if he is my godfather, what are the chances that they went with someone else in order to throw off the Death Eaters from the real Secret Keeper? And for that matter, why go after this Peter Pettigrew when the more obvious choice would be to go into hiding?"

Nicholas paused, and stared at the boy. He had a fair point. If Sirius Black really _had_ betrayed the Potters, why would he go after Peter Pettigrew? Even an insane man would have first thought to go into hiding upon such a betrayal, if only to take out the rest of his former friends.

And for that matter, why did everyone assume he was guilty?

"I'll have to get back to you on that," he admitted finally.

Harry went back to his alchemy book.

* * *

><p>Hermione anxiously awaited the brothers. They had sent her more than a few letters with their rather exciting summer break.<p>

Of course she had spent some of her money in getting a cat. It was a gorgeous black kitten with white paws. She named it Niko, after her favorite series called the _Circle of Magic_. She always emphasized with Tris. She even brought her copies of the series, which had the boys hooked. Ed liked Briar, Harry enjoyed Daja, and Al liked Lark.

They completely ignored the new Defense teacher, who was snoring away. Ed decided to get on the man's good side by repairing the man's outfit, which no longer looked like it was second hand.

Everything was normal until the train stopped abruptly.

"What's going on?" asked Ed.

Harry took one look at the window, saw cloaked figures and freaked out.

"Dementors! Perenelle was right!"

"Shit! Wands out! I don't trust those things not to attack the others!"

Alphonse was still learning how to cast the charm, but the mist would keep them at bay long enough for Ed or Harry to get there.

They spread out, keeping their patronus between them and the Dementors.

When the new teacher finally woke up, it was to the fact that the boys had successfully kept the creatures from getting anywhere near the students. They arrived at the school to find Aurors there...with the Minister.

Fudge looked angry that mere students had kept his dementors from searching the train. What happened next would be shared by the children of Ministry workers, particularly Susan Bones.

Ed drew up his entire four-foot six height, and lit into the Minister, to the amusement of the Aurors nearby. The fact that Harry was laughing his ass off wasn't helping matters either.

By the time Ed and the others made it to the Great Hall, Ed was officially the hero of the students. More than one dementor had tried to Kiss some of the Slytherins.

Draco had been among that number.

* * *

><p>Ed wasn't looking forward to this lesson. Word had it that Lupin (the new guy) had found a boggart and was having them face it. His only consolation was that at least the man knew what he was doing this time.<p>

He knew full well what his greatest fear was. Loosing Alphonse and facing the Homunculus that his so called older brother tricked him into making.

So Harry was asking Lupin if Ed could be excused from facing it. He gave a memory of the event, and the paling man agreed wholeheartedly.

He stood near the gramophone, and didn't notice when Ron pushed him towards the Boggart.

The effect was instantaneous. One minute Parvati was facing a snake...the next the other Gryffindors were screaming and running towards the door. Some had even lost their lunch.

Lupin went between Ed and his fear, and was quick to banish the boggart into the staff closet where he found it. Harry was at Ed's side, trying to soothe his brother. Ed was pale and shaking, but hadn't moved towards the door. Once Ed had calmed down, he went looking for Ron, furious.

"What the hell is your problem?" demanded Harry.

Ron was one of those who lost their lunch, and the first to the door. He had only wanted to know Ed's weakness.

"The guy is too perfect! I only wanted to know what his weakness was!" said Ron quickly, eager to leave.

Harry threw a punch, and broke the boy's nose. Later that night Ron found his things had been removed from the room, and he had been banished to the common room.

When McGonagall came to resolve the dispute, she found that the boys had had it with Ron's snoring. This was just the last straw.

Ron was officially ousted from the Gryffindors.

* * *

><p>Ed couldn't wait to go to Hogsmeade, and Harry was going to keep an eye on him. Ever since their class with the Boggart, he had been keeping the others from bothering him about the site. More than one student had to take dreamless sleep potion or obliviate the sight from their minds just to get enough sleep at night.<p>

Dumbledore tried to keep Harry from going, claiming that Pinako wasn't his legal guardian, but a visit from Lucius nipped his plans in the bud. Their first store was the bookstore.

To Ed's delight, they had a mail order bookstore in Hogsmeade, which had a large list of items for the students to order from. As well as a large selection of fiction from the muggle world.

Ed nearly laughed till he had tears in his eyes when he saw all of Lockhart's books in a large bin with a notice saying _'Buy one get one free! Seventy-five percent discount on all books in bin! Sell your copies for a sickle!'_

They didn't doubt for a second that everyone but the Ravenclaws had sold their copies or traded them for muggle fiction.

(Hermione heard a rumor that Pansy Parkinson from Slytherin traded her copies for some trashy Romance novels.)

Ed attacked the candy store with a fervor that was only matched for his love of Alchemy.

"Hey Harry, I've been meaning to ask where you found those books on elemental alchemy."

"Funnily enough, I found them in my trust vault of all things. They looked like a family notebook. Maybe Roy's ancestors left them there."

"Any other books?"

"A few grimiores for new mages, but that was it. I wonder if there's more alchemy books in the family vault."

Ed was about to answer him when he saw a book that looked very interesting in the trash. He had found something rather surprising about the magical communities...they were a bunch of hoarders that barely kept their houses together through the efforts of the house elves.

It was rare for anyone to throw away a book. Picking it up and looking inside, he grinned.

"Finder's Keepers!" grinned Ed.

"What is it?"

"A book on goblin laws and loopholes. I bet we could use these to get into your family vault."

"Why would anyone throw this away?" asked Harry.

"Are you kidding? You know how people react to goblins. Most don't even bother to learn gobbledigook!" grinned Ed.

"So where next?"

"Butterbeer?"

"Butterbeer. Wonder where Al is."

They found Al petting a dog that had seen better days.

"Al, be careful. You don't know where he's been!" said Ed.

Al rolled his eyes.

"If he was really a dangerous dog, I could have taken him out by now. I'm not that weak brother!" said Al.

The dog whined as Al stopped scratching a particularly sensitive spot. Ed grinned and scratched his back end causing his leg to go nuts.

"He doesn't look like he's had a good solid meal in months. And I don't see anyone around here feeding the poor thing," said Ed.

"Can we keep him? Maybe we can train him to get along with Den," said Harry, employing the puppy dog look.

"Where are we going to put him?" asked Ed sensibly.

Al and Harry shared an evil grin.

"Nick has a lot of space at his house...and Perenelle would mother him to death..." said Harry.

"Oh that is evil! It's perfect!" cackled Ed.

The dog cocked his head, as if paying attention to the conversation. It did not go unnoticed by Ed and Harry. Since they couldn't very well send a dog like this without at least cleaning him up, Ed and Al snuck the hound into a room they found a month ago.

* * *

><p>The dog tried to escape the bath, but resistance was futile when Ed showed his new trick of drawing a razor sharp blade from his automail.<p>

He had learned it by accident while cleaning off some spilled ink on his homework. After that he had spent hours perfecting the trick.

The dog curled his tail beneath his legs and gave them the most pitiful look they had ever seen.

Only to get nailed by warm water by Harry, who was grinning. It quickly spiraled into an ongoing battle to get the dog with soap and give it a trim. By the time they finished, Ed, Al, and Harry were soaked to the bone and the dog had the largest grin they had ever seen. It was already dry from the water that Harry managed to get on him and he still didn't have any soap on him.

"That's it! _Petrificulus Totales!_" yelled Harry, Ed and Al.

The dog went ramrod straight.

"That is not a normal dog. Normal dogs don't know how to turn on a dime and cause people to crash like that," said Ed scowling.

"Agreed. That dog is too smart to be normal!" said Harry growling.

"Maybe he isn't a dog," said Al.

The three shared a dark look, and Ed cast a spell he found while researching Animagi.

And his scowl deepened.

"This isn't a dog at all! Okay, I don't care who the hell you are, but you are going to pay for that stunt you pulled earlier!" declared Ed with a snarl.

Ed cast the other spell that went with the first, and before them Sirius Black lay on the floor stunned.

"I don't freaking believe this. We were outsmarted by a freaking idiot?" said Ed.

"_Finite_. You have five minutes to start talking. Any wrong moves and we allow Rain to eat you," said Harry.

"Who's Rain?" he asked, curious.

Ed hissed, and the basilisk returned to her true size, though her eyes were still sealed.

"EEK!" Sirius yelped. Ed, Al and Harry shared a look before they started cackling.

"You...You scream like a girl!" Ed said, howling.

"Where did you get that snake?!" said Sirius, backing up to the wall.

"Chamber of Secrets. Now start talking," said Ed.

Sirius, under threat of being eaten alive by a big damn snake, spilled the truth of who betrayed the Potters. Ed and Harry shared a dark look.

"So Pettigrew is a rat missing a toe on his right paw?"

Sirius nodded...and Ed let loose a rather impressive stream of curses.

"Dammit all to hell! I should have known kicking that chainsaw twit out of the dorm was going to bite us in the ass!" sword Ed.

"Chainsaw? What's a chainsaw?" asked Sirius.

"He's referring to the idiot with absolutely no table manners named Ron Weasly. The twins are fine, but he is an absolute slob. We kicked him out over a month ago for traumatizing nearly everyone in our year during defense."

"Why not have the twins retrieve him? It's not like we know where he's sleeping," said Al.

Harry and Ed grinned. Fred and George wouldn't mind helping them if they explained that it was an elaborate prank on Ron.

* * *

><p>Ed walked into Gringotts with a scowl. He had to wait until Christmas to do this, but if Sirius was telling the truth, then he would walk out of the bank a free man. He willingly walked in on a leash to avoid suspicion.<p>

"_**Excuse me, but I require the head of the Auror Department and a good lawyer."**_

The goblin gave him a look. It was almost perfect gobbledigook, but the accent needed work.

"What do you need them for?"

Ed looked at him.

"I found a miscarriage of justice and a way to make Fudge look like a complete idiot. Plus if this works out I'll get the goblin clans ten percent of the lawsuit money he'll get."

"...They'll be here in an hour."

Ed walked out with Sirius a free man. Not only was he telling the truth, Pettigrew turned out to be an actual Death Eater. Which meant he could spend time with his godson for a change!


	10. Clearing Sirius and Youswell

Ed and his brothers were laughing their asses off with Nicholas for one reason.

Perenelle had taken _one_ look at Sirius Black's form and immediately went into mother hen mode. There was no escape. This included giving him a much needed hair cut and shave. And the most mortifying bit of all (which had all four bursting into peals of laughter all over again) measurements for new clothes. Perenelle had to stun him twice just to get him to stop squirming.

They had taken Sirius to the Flamel cottage in order to prepare him for his trial. After Ed bribed the twins with funds to help them start their joke business (which if they could get it off the ground Harry would supply all the money they would need in exchange for partial ownership) and they retrieved Scabbers for him. The rat knew he was doomed because Ed had taken several precautions like an unbreakable cage and a few obscure spells that made it impossible for him to transform until Ed took him out.

Scabbers found out the hard way Ed's right hand was made of metal, and that squirming was absolutely pointless since the hand wouldn't loose it's grip on his thinning body.

Sirius just gave them a betrayed look, though even he had to admit, this would be hilarious had he not been on the receiving end of the treatment.

Perenelle then found out that he had lice...and soon he was trying his damnedest to get out of her range before she used a particularly irritating charm to get rid of them. It wasn't painful, it just stung really badly for a few hours.

* * *

><p>Ed, Al and Harry sat on one side of the courtroom while Sirius sat between Nicholas and his lawyer. In Ed's hands was the cage that held Pettigrew. He didn't trust one of those 'former' Death Eaters to not try and free the rat just to condemn Sirius.<p>

This proved to be a wise move with the way Dumbledore shot the rats odd looks.

Finally, Fudge demanded that if Sirius wasn't the one who betrayed the Potters, then they would have to provide the real culprit now or have the man Kissed where he sat.

Ed stood triumphantly, and brought out a squirming Scabbers. He looked for the one called Madam Bones, who happened to be the aunt of a very nice Hufflepuff named Susan. Finally he spotted a woman with a monocle and asked politely if she could cast the animagus revealing spell on the rat he had.

She raised an eyebrow at the request, but did so since he was polite about it.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise, before she cast the spell that would force an animagi to revert back to human. There, in all his misshapen glory, was Peter Pettigrew.

Chaos reigned in the court room...right up until the point Ed used the full body bind on the formerly dead wizard to keep him from trying to escape.

It was only removed once Pettigrew had been chained firmly and his wand taken. Several aurors followed Ed's example and kept their wands leveled and ready to cast at the first hint of an escape. The room was sealed, so he couldn't get out that way either.

Another auror came up with a vial of veritaserum, and carefully poured three drops down Peter's throat.

"What is your name?" asked Madam Bones.

"_Peter Pettigrew."_

"Why did you fake your death?"

"_I knew if I showed myself Sirius or Remus would kill me."_

"Were you the Potter's Secret Keeper?"

"_Yes."_

"Did you betray them to You-Know-Who?"

"_Yes."_

"Were you confunded?" demanded Fudge.

"_No."_

Ed decided to hurry this along. He used a trick he picked up during his attempts to speak another language...he threw his voice to somewhere over Madam Bones' left shoulder to make it seem like she asked the question.

"Are you a Death Eater?"

"_Yes."_

The uproar from that was headache inducing. Madam Bones shot Ed an approving look, knowing he was the one who did that.

"On which arm does the Dark Mark rest?" asked Bones.

"_On my left arm."_

One of the aurors moved slowly towards the bound man and lifted his left sleeve up. There, for all the world to see, was a clear Dark Mark. While it was faded like many Death Eaters since Voldemort wasn't active, it was still clear enough to be identified, and only Death Eaters loyal to the Dark Lord would dare to have one on their person. Otherwise they were just asking to be killed.

Fudge attempted to salvage this.

"Were you imperioused to take the mark?" he asked desperately. If not, then they would have to take back the Order of Merlin, which was a headache and a half with the paperwork alone.

"_No. I took the mark willingly. I was tired of being overlooked for my friends."_

Sirius looked upset about that, but after what Peter did he still wanted to kill him.

Madam Bones broke through the noise.

"Enough! All in favor of clearing Black?" she roared.

The vote was almost unanimous. Only a few people didn't raise their hands, notably Fudge, Crouch, Umbridge (a pink toad like woman who Ed hated on sight) and a few Death Eaters who had gotten out by claiming Imperious.

"In that case, it seems we owe you a great deal of apology Black. Had the proper procedure been followed sooner, we would have known your innocence beforehand and a traitor would have been spending all those years rightfully behind bars where he belongs."

* * *

><p>In the end, Sirius didn't even get into trouble for his animagi form, since he spent twelve years behind bars and the max for an illegal animagi was six months. The Ministry had to pay him 100,000 galleons for false imprisonment for each six months he spent there. And like Ed promised, a tenth of that went to the goblin clans for helping him.<p>

Sirius was in a constant state of open mouthed shock and disbelief. Hearing about the other half of the barrier and the fact Ed was an alchemist before he was a wizard had come as a bit of a shock.

Seeing what he could do simply by clapping his hands actually made the man faint.

Because of the fact Sirius was still in need of recovery from Azkaban, Nicholas told the boys that the former prisoner was going to be staying with Perenelle until she deemed him fit again.

Sirius had shot them a betrayed look when the four had to hold back peals of snickers at his expense. He could take consolation that at least Perenelle was better than dealing with Molly Weasley.

While Molly was a wonderful woman, her voice left much to be desired and her mother hen mode was a nightmare to deal with. At least Perenelle would treat him like he could tie his own shoes, thank you very much!

Still, at least the boys would have an escort in Amestris, even if Sirius would prefer to watch as a dog. Little Gracia, the daughter of the man who had let them stay during their last trip, would probably fall in love with the hound. She had been born during the winter holidays, and funnily enough right on the same day as Ed's birthday.

* * *

><p>Ed was cussing up a storm when he learned Fudge refused to remove the dementors, even after Sirius was proved innocent. Rumor had it the man was buried in the paperwork the trial had caused.<p>

In any event, Ed and his brothers had become rather trigger happy with the patronus charm whenever he was outside. The other students appreciated it greatly, since the dementors had shown a real interest in Ed and the others. Whenever they went outside, the monsters would come out of the woodwork and try to eat them.

At least Sirius had gotten Ed a book on magic that he knew would interest him, Al had gotten a book on healing, and Harry got the new Firebolt he had been eyeballing.

Finally, two months after Sirius was declared a free man, Ed had enough.

Ed, Al, and Harry walked outside, took out their wands, and began casting patronus charms like crazy. A massive stag, a large cat with wings, and a panther came out. The dementors screeched as they tried in vain to get past the silvery animals.

Harry and Ed took them on together, with Al's nearly solid cat backing them up, keeping any dementors from coming too close. The students cheered the three on as they sent the dementors away. Harry even got some alchemy practice in, frying any that came too close with his lightning gloves on.

* * *

><p>Sirius walked alongside the boys, who were once again riding the train. Harry was given the 'leash' by din of fact that it was <em>his<em> godfather escorting them. Ed had decided to give Sirius a chance to get used to the other side by taking him to a small mining town.

In exchange for letting them use his library pass in Central, Mustang had them help out with assignments. Since they were mostly inane tasks that any alchemist could do, Mustang got away with it.

As such, even though Ed, Harry and Al weren't a part of the military, they were labeled as Contract Alchemists.

Apparently this was how the Military dealt with people who tried and failed to impress the judges in the Alchemist Exam. They got paid on a case by case basis, and the better they did, the better the chance they had at making the rank next time around.

Ed had decided to be a Contract Alchemist because it was a paying job that had a few select benefits like limited access to the State Controlled Library and some health care, but wouldn't label him a Dog of the Military.

Ed knew full well it was a State Alchemist who killed Winry's parents in the Ishbal War. He refused to work with a group that could and did order Alchemists to use their power to kill innocents.

In another life, Ed would have been forced to become one in order to restore his brother. However, he was just glad that for once, their tiny family was happy and together again.

Sirius had taken an interest in auto-mail, if only because it was just so...muggle. He was particularly interested in seeing if his Runes Mastery could be used to augment it without the thing blowing up.

Ed had offered to be his first test subject, since he was used to putting his auto-mail through a more rigorous series of trials than most did.

The mission Ed was being sent on this time was a simple one. He had to examine the mines of Youswell for Mustang in exchange for a few hard to get tomes on alchemy.

Finding out that yes, Harry was in fact Mustang's cousin had set the entire base in a tizzy. At least it shut up those silly rumors the man was his father.

Plus it was a relatively safe place to introduce alchemy to Sirius. Apparently his lack of interest before was because he heard that you needed to know potions rather well, which he had dim view of because of Snape.

Snape, in turn, was not a big fan though he did like Edward, Alphonse and Harry well enough not to bother them during class. Particularly Alphonse, who always paired up with Neville after the first disastrous class to keep the boy from ruining too many potions.

"So what are we supposed to be doing out in Youswell?" asked Alphonse.

"Mine Inspection...though I heard some odd rumors about the guy running the place," said Ed, looking over the paper Mustang handed him.

"What rumors?"

"Something about how most of the Inns and Bars had been closed down due to taxes, which makes absolutely no sense, because bars should be the one place miners go to relax after work. I think this guy is abusing his position."

"What do we do?" asked Harry.

"I say we prank the bastard," said Ed grinning. Sirius barked in approval.

Ed, Al, Harry and Sirius' jaws dropped when they heard the price for one night at the Inn. Apparently the rumors about the inns and bars closing hadn't been rumors at all. Yoki was draining the town dry for bribe money.

Ed and Harry got kicked out when they learned they were there on inspection, while Al and Sirius managed to stay in the Inn. It helped that Al and Sirius didn't look related to Ed and Harry at all. Al snuck them food later.

Ed and Harry were in an extravagant mansion that definitely didn't fit Youswell. Ed wasn't the least bit impressed with the bribe, and neither was Harry. Instead, Ed created more gold and bargained with the greedy Yoki for the Youswell deed.

Yoki didn't think twice. Too bad for him it was a temporary illusion charm on bricks of coal. Only a few bricks were actually gold. Ed wasn't the only one snickering when the miners beat the living crap out of Yoki.

Sirius transformed into his human form.

"So it is like this all the time?" he asked, since he had changed back in an alley so no one would notice.

"Nah, though this is very similar to what we had to do back at Hogwarts," said Alphonse.

"Don't I know it. I swear that place should be labeled a death trap and not a school," said Harry.

Sirius barked with laughter, as he joined in on the festivities. The miners weren't about to ask where he had come from since he was clearly friends with Ed and Harry.

* * *

><p>"So let me get this straight. This is your godfather who has the ability to change between human and a large dog. And he is your official escort whenever your school is off for the summer?" said Mustang, eyebrow twitching.<p>

"Yup. Coincidentally the goblins want to speak to you about the fact that you haven't come in yet. Apparently since you are part of my family you get a small vault full of gold to use."

"How small?" asked Mustang. Claiming a lost inheritance sounded more interesting than doing paperwork all week.

"According to my account manager, roughly 10,000 gold coins, which look like this," said Harry, pulling out a galleon. The Potters were _very_ well off.

"Mind if I join you when you head back?" asked Mustang.

"Not at all!" said Harry grinning. It would be fun to see Mustang's reaction to his world.

"Oh my god! You're heading back? Can I come with you?" Winry begged with puppy dog eyes. Every time she went with them she came home with tons of new toys to play with.

"What does Granny say?" asked Harry.

"She said to bring her back more fire whiskey and to be careful," said Winry.

Harry grinned. One-by-one they entered the barrier, which had settled near Granny Pinako's house. The other side had settled inside the Flamel's wards, so no one would see them come out.

"Welcome back Harry, Ed, Al. Who're your friends?" asked Perenelle.

"Meet my long-lost cousin, Roy Mustang the Flame Alchemist. You know Winry already."

"Welcome to our home, Mr. Roy. Boys, your book list has already arrived, so we can go shopping later," said Nick.

"Just Roy is fine. Mr. is too formal for my taste," said Mustang.

"In that case just call me Nick," said Nicholas grinning.

"And Winry, we can go shopping once the boy's leave. I know a few shops that sell the best clothes and machine parts," said Perenelle.

Winry beamed at the woman.


	11. The Tournament and Mustang's Arrival

"Welcome to the other side, Mr. Mustang," said the goblin.

A quick blood test proved Mustang to be of Potter blood, as they had already known.

What Harry _hadn't_ told Mustang was that he had downplayed how much was in his vault. He had just told the man 10,000 as a rough even number to start with.

There was actually 500,000 which was made off of several investments his great uncle had made years ago when he vanished. Mustang learned that the man had died pursuing an alchemy text, only to be killed by a nundu shortly after acquiring it.

That book was still in the vault.

Nicholas observed Roy in his first foray into the magical world. To be honest, he liked Mustang. He was like a mixture of Harry and Sirius.

And unlike the boys, he knew better than to attempt human transmutation.

Which was why Nick offered to teach Mustang a bit of shape alchemy, in exchange for seeing their libraries.

He was tired of being the only true alchemist in a world of magic.

* * *

><p>Mustang didn't know what to think of this...Quidditch. Sirius had gotten the best tickets in the house, right next to the Weasley clan. Beside him was Riza Hawkeye, there to supervise his...vacation...as he had put it.<p>

Harry mock-whispered to Ed that the only reason that she had come was that she was in denial about liking Mustang.

The lump she left on their heads for the comment hurt like hell.

Actually, Riza did like Mustang, but it was against the rules to date a superior officer. Plus there was the fact that any problems they might have as a couple would translate very quickly to their work.

To the amusement of Nick, only three of the five he took with him were unaffected by the Veela.

Ed, Harry and surprisingly enough Mustang. Though that could have been because of the gun Riza secretly had pressed to his thigh...

* * *

><p>Roy was reading a book he had found in a second hand shop about fire elemental magic. As a pyro, he was naturally interested in the other half of his heritage. Hell, if things didn't work out with the Military, he planned to move here and take the name Roy Mustang-Potter, since Harry had no problem readmitting him to the family.<p>

Riza was sleeping with her new dog next to her, Black Hayate. That puppy had was potty trained mere hours after Riza got it. Mostly because it didn't want to get shot.

To the surprise of the group, Riza had magic as well. Her's wasn't as strong as Roy or the boys though.

He was about to switch books when he heard a racket outside. One look told him everything he needed to know.

Roy kicked the sleeping Ed with his boot.

"Wake up chibi. Someone's attacking the fairgrounds," said Roy.

"WHO ARE YOU CALLING SO SMALL THAT YOU CAN'T SEE WITHOUT A MICROSCOPE?!" roared Ed.

"Shut up Ed. What's going on Mustang?" asked Harry yawning.

"Lieutenant Colonel!" said Riza. She had been bunking with the girls over with the Weasly group. They had the room and despite how blasé she was about it, Nick didn't want anyone asking why a female was staying in their tent. Perenell would skin him alive.

"Someone is attacking the tents. Probably some drunken idiots. Here," said Roy, tossing her a briefcase.

"Aim only to wound, right sir?" said Riza, cocking the guns. Inside the case was a ton of pistols and ammunition, better than the kind she was used to. The goblins helped her to get them, even though they were illegal in Britain.

Harry later learned from one of the younger goblins that they had a supplier in America who sold illegal arms on the black market.

Nick came into the tent and saw Roy and Riza armed and ready to fight back.

"I won't tell you not to fight. To be honest, I doubt I could stop you. But I will ask that you at least keep the damage to a minimal and don't kill anyone with your alchemy or gun. By the way Roy, this is for you. I assume you've been studying those books I lent you earlier?"

"They were very informative," said Roy. He accepted the hand crafted wand that Nick had given him.

It had the core of a dragon fang and the heart of a salamander. It was a duel wood type, an unusual mixture of Apple and Ebony wood and stylized with flames around the handle.

It had taken several days to make it and cost Harry 20 galleons to have it made personally for Roy in Knockturn.

Roy had appreciated the gift, since it was Harry's way of saying welcome back to the family.

"You did study the wand movements and the pronunciation, right?" said Harry.

"Thanks to you three, I think I can manage. Perhaps you can show me once you get back from that school," said Roy.

"Tell you what Roy, I'll set up a portal near your apartment that only you and Ms. Hawkeye can use so I can teach you. At least I know I can trust you two to keep an eye on these troublemakers when they search for that monster the inadvertently set loose," said Nick.

"I'll take you up on that old man."

"And as for you three, I get the feeling telling you not to stick your nose into this is a pointless effort, so I have another order for you. Get up into the trees and watch Roy and Riza deal with these idiots. I want a full report on what they did and any errors they made that could be corrected. Do it correctly and I _may_ leave an alchemy or spell book in your trunks this year."

Ed, Al, and Harry all agreed rather quickly to that order. Ever since Nick had refused to teach them either of the arts they had been feeling depressed. Any books he left them were guaranteed to be useful. They quickly grabbed their brooms and took to the treetops.

Fortunately Harry had found a pensieve in one of the vaults, so they could review and correct any mistakes later.

* * *

><p>Roy was...dare he say it...having fun. He had always gotten a thrill from using his flame alchemy. But this, this was like a high he couldn't explain. It was like every part of his being was singing in harmony.<p>

The wand felt like his gloves did, a part of him.

He had always felt like there was something missing. Alchemy had almost bridged the gap he felt, but it wasn't enough. Now, now he had found what was missing.

His magic. He was a natural fire elemental mage, and it showed. It was why he was so good at flame alchemy. He couldn't wait to learn more. More about this...magic, and more about himself.

* * *

><p>Riza saw that her superior officer was thoroughly enjoying himself, and to be honest she was as well. These guns were far beyond what they had in Central. The recoil was almost non-existent.<p>

Her aim was perfect and she only hit these...Death Eaters in the arm or leg.

Nick watched the two fight like a well oiled unit. In the trees above, the boys were watching with rapt attention.

Mustang seemed to be having fun using magic instead of alchemy. And while his wandwork was shoddy his power was good. Though there was the slight issue of his pronunciation.

Seeing the boys taking notes at a furious pace, he smiled. It was good to see them acting like the children they were rather than the mini-adults that Ed had the bad habit of doing.

While he had told them he wouldn't teach them magic or alchemy until they corrected their mistake, but he had said nothing about leaving them books to figure it out themselves.

* * *

><p>"Did you get the spell Roy used on that pale blond idiot that looked like Malfoy?" asked Ed.<p>

"Unfortunately no. what about you Al?"

"I got it, right here," said Alphonse.

They were comparing notes on the battle, which Roy and Riza naturally came on top.

Military trumps terrorist most of the time, especially when said military was actually competent and not half drunk.

Nicholas read their reports, and smiled. As promised, he left one alchemy and one magic book in their trunks for them to read. They had to master at least two of the items inside both books and write numerous essays about it to Nicholas over the year.

* * *

><p>As they boarded the train, all three were distinctly bored out of their minds. They couldn't take out their new books until they were in the Room of Requirement, which they found last year by accident.<p>

They were either yawning, reading a different book, or doodling nonsense on a scrap piece of paper. (Ed, Al and Harry respectively.)

Hermione came in looking rather peeved at all of them.

"Where, exactly, were you three when the Death Eaters attacked?" she demanded.

"In the trees," started Harry.

"Writing a report," continued Alphonse.

"On the effectiveness of proper military training and fire arms against hostile forces," finished Ed.

"You three are getting to be far too much like the twins, you know that?" said Hermione pinching her nose.

"Yeah, well it was worth it. We got some rare books to read over the year, but we have to give them back when we go home next year," said Ed. He yawned again.

"Ed, you should just brew the potion and be done with it," said Al, not looking up from his book.

"What potion?"

"Animagus potion," answered Harry.

"Ed has been meditating for weeks now trying to find what animal he'll be," said Alphonse.

"We're still trying to get the ingredients for the potion," said Harry.

"...Can I try it too?" asked Hermione timidly.

"Sure! The more the merrier! After all, we're making two cauldrons of it to use the best one and sell the rest!" said Harry mischievously.

"Let me guess, to the students?" said Hermione.

"Better believe it! The twins offered us two galleons for two vials!" said Harry.

Hermione rolled her eyes.

* * *

><p>The second Harry heard about the tournament, he swore. So did Ed, though he did it in several languages with a slight accent. Flitwick was amused to hear Goblin among those used.<p>

(Nick had been helping him with his pronunciation since he could read languages but he had trouble speaking them out loud.)

They knew without a doubt that one of their number would be dragged into this mess. Most likely Harry or Ed.

And so, in preparation for either eventuality, the two tore into the law books concerning the tournament like mad men. Finally Harry found the best law they had to stay OUT of the tournament.

"_If a minor is entered against their will, their legal magical guardian or nearest magical kin can argue against participation and allow the goblet to judge whether the contestant shall participate or not. If the goblet judges no, then the one who sought to harm the child shall have their magic stripped and be judged by courts most high,"_ read Ed.

"Thank god. If we're unlucky and one of us is chosen, we can call Nick in."

"Or Mustang. He is your nearest magical kin, even if he doesn't live here."

"Get them on standby the day they chose the champions?"

"You bet your ass!" said Harry.

* * *

><p>Ed and Harry were critiquing the entrance of the other schools.<p>

"Impressive, but it could have been better," said Ed. They weren't that big a fan of horses. Even winged ones.

They were impressed with the Durmstrang ship, though not by Krum. He was nothing compared to Major Armstrong, who was far more impressive in muscle size...though the guy was a big puppy when it came to others. His over the top manner kept people from being truly afraid of him, even children. Harry suspected that was a deliberate thing.

Both boys groaned (as did Al), when they found out Dumbledore's idea of impressing the other schools was to have them sing the school anthem. They quickly cast a modified bubblehead charm that kept out sound.

Once everyone was fed, they all left for their beds.

* * *

><p>Ed sent off a letter asking for Mustang and Nicholas two days before the champion selection was to took some doing, but they were both in Hogsmeade the day before, mostly thanks to international portkeys.<p>

As they feared, one of them was picked as champion.

"Harry Potter!" Dumbledore called out.

"Absolutely not! I am not participating in a tournament with a high death rate!" protested Harry.

"You don't have a choice. Go to the hall with the other champions," said Dumbledore annoyed.

"Ed, get Mustang _now_!" hissed Harry as Dumbledore had him forcibly dragged into the hall by Snape. Ed was gone before the barmy old coot realized he had left.

A single white owl flew to the Three Broomsticks, and the two men departed. It was ridiculously easy to get into the school, due to the fact all the teachers were in the school including Filch.

Mustang burst into the room where they were trying to trick Harry that he _had _to compete, despite never having entered his name in.

"What in blazes are you trying to do to my cousin?" demanded Roy.

"And who are you good sir?" asked Dumbledore.

"Roy Mustang-Potter, Harry's second cousin," said Roy flatly.

"Harry has no Potter cousins," said Snape.

"That's because I wasn't aware of my Potter heritage until very recently. Now why are you trying to force my cousin to compete in a tournament that only adults are allowed to enter?" demanded Roy. His voice had a no nonsense tone, and his body language said he was used to people following his orders.

"There is nothing you can do to prevent this. Rules state that anyone picked by the goblet _must_ compete," said Crouch.

"Not rule 105 dash three, paragraph fifteen. It states that a minor who was entered against their will with a magical guardian or older family member of close blood relation can contest the entry. Mustang is my third cousin from an uncle who had only three kids and is the only other living Potter around," Harry spoke up. He made sure they all heard him clearly.

"What in blazes are you talking about?" demanded Crouch.

"Every year I've been here, Ed and I have been put into dangerous situations that could get us killed. The second we heard about the tournament, we knew chances were one of us would be entered so we looked for loopholes. Rule 105-3 states that I can contest my status as champion if a close blood relation or magical guardian claims that I was entered against my will."

Crouch dug out his rule book and immediately looked for it. Harry even supplied the page in question.

"He's right. There is a clause for minors entered illegally," said Crouch looking surprised.

"And why was Mr. Mustang here?" asked Moody.

"I called him and my magical guardian in two days ago just in case this particular event happened. No way am I going to compete just to increase Dumbledore's ego," said Harry flatly. Mustang clapped him on the shoulder looking proud. Standing together, you could see the close family resemblance, although Mustang's hair was straighter than Harry's was.

"We shall have the goblet decide. According to the rules, the goblet will either force Mr. Potter to compete, or reclaim the magic of the one who forced him into the competition," said Crouch.

Dumbledore looked decidedly sour about the whole thing, though no one could have guessed why. He should have been defending Harry from being a champion in the first place because of his age.

And with that, Harry left the room for bed. Mustang would have to stay until the first task to see whether or not the goblet would let his cousin leave this competition legally or force him to compete.

If he was let go, Mustang would head home. If not, well he would come back for each task to support his cousin. He did have a number of vacation days saved up for events like these.


End file.
